What do you regret buying? And why?

[Steve]

It had to come eventually..........

[Andersun]

I have purchased at least 10 Home Model Ds in my life and after screwing around with the seized bushings, I regretted buying every one of them!

[dutchman]

My first machine - now there are 57 of them.

[TinfoilPhono]

I can't think of a single machine that I regret having bought. I do sometimes wince when I think of how much I paid for a few, but that touch of pain passes quickly because the bottom line is that in every instance I knew what I was doing when I bought them, and I surely would rather have the machines than the money.

[Steve]

I surely would rather have the machines than the money

Thus spoken by a TRUE collector who truly knows the meaning of the word and is passionate about his hobby

[MTPhono]

Where do I start.....

1. All the uprights I bought before I knew anything about phonos - now they just take up space in my garage.

2. The Columbia BC that was misrepresented horribly. I was trying not to piss the seller off (he has lots of connections) so agreed to pay for it. No hope of ever getting it to play. It is now a big heavy boat anchor. At least it keeps my uprights company out in the garage.

3. Several machines bought on eBay. They were misrepresented and either non-playable or in horrible condition.

4. A collection of 140 cylinder machines - most very common, all in need of re-restoration. The original owner felt his touch was needed apparently. I ended up selling 135 and restoring the remaining 5. Those 5 still in my collection today.

Luckily time and my many mistakes bought me the education, allowing me to make better decisions. I rarely if ever make mistakes now. The examples above were all in my early years of collecting.

[Wolfe]

The copy of Alma Gluck's Carry Me Back To Old Virginny I bought on e-bay for 10,000 bucks.

Cost me all that money, my marriage and home. Everything.

[Frankia]

This could turn out to be an interesting thread for some! One man's/woman's mistake could be another's opportunity!

Having said that, I fall into the category of those who have no regrets about what they've bought. When I sell, it's either to finance something or to help someone out with something I think I could manage without. My regrets lie solely in the area of what I've sold/given away.

[Steve]

1. Pathé "Jour Et Nuit" disc machine - firstly because it was a quite poor example misrepresented by a dealer who should know better and refused to take it back afterwards! Secondly because I only now realize, some eight years later, that they are as common as English rain. The dealer used profuse flowery language to describe it and made it sound like a rarity that even he hadn't seen before.

2. Carola miniature cabinet machine - a piece of useless junk if ever there was

3. Phonocone - another piece of kitsch

4. Nirona tin-plate toy disc machines - for big kids!

5. Mikiphones - I've had several of them now and none of them play at all well! They are just a novelty and potentially very expensive ones at that.

6. Everything I've bought off eBay AT THE PRICE I PAID FOR IT - now this is perhaps a bit tricky to explain but I'll have a go. Many items (in fact ALL but one I've bought in the past 6 years) have been poorly described, represented or photographed on eBay. Sometimes it is pure laziness on the part of the seller. Sometimes it is done in a deliberate manner to disguise the truth about the real condition of an item. In most cases, if the truth was laid bare before bidding commenced I would not have bid so high on the items. Presumably I also wouldn't have won them either so here is a dilemma! My conclusion is therefore that most items I would still want and do not regret buying but I wish I had been able to see them first to avoid disappointments and maybe to negotiate a more reasonable buying price. OR simply, I dislike eBay.

7. US WWII Army / Navy portable field machines - I found one locally to me 20 years ago and thought I'd struck gold . No one I knew had ever seen one before. It was shown to a specialist at Christies (CSK) who thought it could make over £500. A decade later I was tripping over them on http://www.ebay.com where on a good day they were selling for $70! Lucky for me I sold it on eBay the week before a WW2 Re-Enactment Weekend in the UK and got a GOOD price for it. Nice folks too, I hope they are still enjoying it.

8. ALL cabinet floor standing machines with internal horns and all table grands with internal horns EXCEPT HMV 202 and all Lumiere / Pathé / Diffusor diaphragm machines - my other half uses the word coffin to describe most cabinet machines and she probably knows best!

9. Most portable machines - I've nowhere to store them anymore and they are getting in the way. They do not sound particularly good and they are costly to buy (the good ones anyway).

10. Jack & Jill toy phonograph - another toe-rag on eBay ("yeah it's definitely not repainted. I've been in the business 30 years of selling toys and tin-plate items so I should know"). Indeed he should. And once again, indeed he didn't! When I got it, it had been repainted rather poorly and quite recently! But I'd have to ask "What's the point?", even owning a good example.

[FloridaClay]

Well, maybe more like one I have mixed emotions about. My first machine was an Amberola 50 I bought in an antique store in Tennessee. It looked nice, but it turned out to have several issues; the wrong grille, the spacers under the motor board missing (which in turn led to breaking winding cranks), one of the two spring barrels missing, and assorted other things that took a long time to discover and get right. I finally did get everything corrected and it remains in my collection. I paid too much in the beginning and when all the fixes are added up I have way too much into it.

All this of course came from inexperience and not keeping "let the buyer beware" firmly in mind. It was a learning experience though. The main lessons being do your homework and know all you can about a machine before you buy if at all possible so that you do not get taken and that, as always, the devil is in the details.

Clay