What do you regret selling?

[Steve]

I have the largest of the HMV re-entrant gramophones

Which one?

[Frankia]

Both of them, though not at the same time. I had a 203. Fortune, or the lack of it to be precise, turned that into a 202!
Anyhow, to get back to the point, I still miss my good old 163.

[Steve]

I say turning a 203 into a 202 was a positive step not a retrogressive one. The 202 is a better looking machine with a better finish to the cabinet. It also benefits from the unusual plating - the 203 has "standard" gold-plating which in this day and age doesn't mean anything special. I also have a 202 and once owned a 163 in mint condition. I have no regrets as the 202 is simply a much much better machine all round.

[Andersun]

I have never regretted selling any particular machine because I was attached to it. What I do regret is selling any machine during a down market!

[MTPhono]

I have never regretted selling any particular machine because I was attached to it. What I do regret is selling any machine during a down market!

Hey, you just reminded me - - - I do regret selling a Home Polyphone to a certain individual who shall remain unnamed!

Can we ask the question, "What do you regret buying?". I have a long list for that one!

[Phonofreak]

Like other posters have said, I have no regrets of selling because it is an upgrade, and to make room for more desirable machines for me. However, there is one machine that I do regret selling. It was an Orthophonic Grenada that had all the paperwork to it. It had the bill of sale, the contract, and even a letter from the dealer thanking the owner who paid it off. The dealer was Sherman Clay in Tacoma Washington. I sold it to please my wife. I made quite a bit of money because of the original paperwork. I miss that machine, but oh well.
Harvey Kravitz

[FellowCollector]

About 20 years ago a decent original Berliner turned up at an on site estate auction about an hour drive from me and I decided to attend. I was reasonably confident that a number of other collectors would be present as well since the auction was well advertised. It was a horrible weather day for an outside auction even though it was mid-September. It was very windy and cloudy with temperatures holding steady at only about 45 degrees all day. After a couple of hours into the auction the Berliner came up and it ended up selling for more than I felt it was worth as it was missing the horn and crank.

However, there were about 15 Berliner records in nice condition that were sold separately immediately after the Berliner machine. The high bidder on the Berliner machine and I locked horns once again in a bidding war but this time I ended up on the winning end. I can vividly recall feeling buyer's remorse realizing that I became caught up in a bidding frenzy and paid a premium price for the 15 records. I had hardly looked through the records prior to the auction as it was the Berliner machine that I was mostly interested in.

After arriving home I sifted through the Berliner records and found one that was recorded by Jessie Bartlett Davis which I knew was a real prize among Berliner records and vowed never to part with it. A couple of years later I met a gentleman who, through our mutual interest in early recordings and phonographs, found that I had the Jessie Bartlett Davis record in nice condition. He expressed sincere interest in purchasing it by offering the princely sum of $1500.

Now, keep in mind, these were still the good old days when item valuation was more of a "gut feel" rather looking online. I can clearly remember at the time thinking "...that sure sounds like a generous offer..." but, then, I really didn't need the money and I knew that I would never find another copy of it again, especially in that condition. So, I talked it over with my wife (who, like most wives, would rather see stuff GO OUT the door rather COME IN the door!) and she, of course, said "SELL IT!". And, so reluctantly, I did...

To this day I miss that record. I only played it once - and I didn't have the presence of mind at the time to record it so I could at least listen to it after I sold it.

Since that day I have acquired over two hundred 7 inch American Berliner records and, even though there are many interesting and unusual artists and titles among them, Jessie Bartlett Davis is not among them.

So...I keep looking. That's what makes collecting interesting. - Doug

[VintageTechnologies]

To this day I miss that record. I only played it once - and I didn't have the presence of mind at the time to record it so I could at least listen to it after I sold it.

Thanks to the Internet, you can hear it again: http://archive.org/details/JessieBartlettDavis

I never heard of her before, so apart from obscurity, what makes her record so particularly desirable?

[Lenoirstreetguy]

The one I regret most was a humble Victrola VI that I bought for $5.00 when I was 11 years gold. It was my first lateral cut machine and loved it as only a kid can love a toy and I to this moment regret selling it in a fit of disbursement. The other was...is....a large Brunswick Ultona that I got from the gentleman who had purchased it new. I took it out of the parlour where it had stood from the day it was bought in 1919. I donated it to the local museum back in rural Ontario so I can look upon my folly for the price of admission.

JRT

[Damfino59]

I have let many machines go as I cannot keep them all. Also it is a way to upgrade. The older I get I think I'm now more of a record collector who likes to listen to records on period machines. Back in the 1980's I was fortunate to acquire from an estate sale a cylinder record case with 6 pink Lambert's and one black one. Also at the same time I was able to pick up two Edison 12" demonstration records from a antique show at of all places our local shopping mall. I sold these treasures at one of the soggy late 1980's Union shows. When the Donely's would put out wooden planks to walk on so we wouldn't sink into grass & mud! The money went to fund a model A Ford project I had going at the time. I do regret selling the Edison discs.