wjw wrote:SteveM, that is a great version of Tainted Love (I would always turn the radio off when it was playing) Some game designer is really into vintage stuff!
Yes, I'm a big fan of that version!
My 14yo daughter has an F. Scott Fitzgerald presentation in school and needs a "prop." She'll be taking a 102 (her idea). Now we're trying to figure out just what records.
You certainly ought to include some version of "Three O'Clock in the Morning"… a tune commented on by Fitzgerald.
I have met quite a few people who are interested in owning a Victrola, but challenges they face are in finding good records, repairing the machines, finding needles, and ultimately finding the cash to buy everything. A lot of these buyers would also opt for an outside horn machine as their first priority, but quickly realize how unaffordable they are.
Two years ago I began antique phonograph evangelism by taking my Victor III out and playing it around town. I would also bring my Look for the Dog book. Many people were interested in owning an outside horn machine, mostly for a decor piece or a novelty, but were astounded at how much it would cost to purchase one. Eventually I gave up on trying to market the antique phonograph hobby to the public. I do volunteer my services a bit in helping fix a phonograph, radio, telephone, or even a light fixture to people who are genuinely interested. Still, one has to be careful about wasting his time fixing other people's property for little or no money. As fickle as people can be, they may decide the Victrola XI that I spent 6 hours working on no longer has a place in their living room.
It is less a worry about the younger generations getting interested as it is saving what is already in existence today. Many fine machines are still being gutted and turned into empty cabinets.
It is less a worry about the younger generations getting interested as it is saving what is already in existence today. Many fine machines are still being gutted and turned into empty cabinets.
This is true but has been true for many years My brother turned a nice one into a bar 40 years ago. I used to find them lined up at the dump I used to bring home one with a radio in it as the wind up phonos could not play my vinyl but I could convert the electric ones to do that. Then every saturday night they would burn and bury the dump sigh how many met their fate that way I could not calculate. This was also at the time these machines would sell for a couple of bucks at an auction or less and people thought the people who were buying them were funny This was also the time when things were only considered antique or collectable if they were from the 1800's. This was before art deco became popular and Max Parrish was collectable I use to buy his prints for 50 cents. so all this is not surprising It's the same with antique cars everyone who goes to a show wants one but is surprised buy how much the real nice ones are. I bought my 1st MG for $400 can't touch a wreck for that much now
Dwight
Hippocrates: Life is short, art long, opportunity fleeting, experience deceptive, judgment difficult.
I know from an older poll that only 15% of the members of this forum are under 30. These few are the future of our hobby, because another poll shows that 85% of us bought their first phonograph or gramophone at the age of 29 or younger. I find this alarming and predict an unstoppable decline of our hobby.
I find this alarming and predict an unstoppable decline of our hobby
Me too! I believe Starkton is completely correct with his prediction. Whilst it is comforting to hear how some forum members can relate stories of machines that have been saved by friends or handed down to younger members of families, here and there, it doesn't change the obvious looming fact that there are very very few younger people interested and those of us who aren't especially young are all getting older fast!
Or let me pose another thought: how many collectors today (records or machines) can state unequivocally that they know for certain which younger collectors or perhaps members of their families or friends will buy / inherit their collections in the future?
Simply speaking the doom and gloom of a situation will have an adverse effect even if there is a hope of a positive outcome. I have taught metaphysics for well over 40 years. If we want something to collapse ,it will , simply by what we speak. If we speak a positive outcome over a situation it will very much help the higher and better end result to take place. I choose to find and help educate people about this hobby despite the doom and gloomers. My reason is that years ago I went through a really tough emotional and physical span in my life. I guess I probably was suffering from depression but I was afraid of the doctors medications with all of their potentially lethal side affects. I instead gravitated to my phonograph hobby even though I had little money at the time. I just got up each day, went to wherever there might be something of interest that I could purchase with little money. Sometimes I found things but many times not. I just kept going and finally it clicked. As I healed my collection began to grow. It basically helped save my life. I had a different focus. I see young kids that buy an old beater to drive. In the process of attempting to restore it they obtain a sense of self confidence and self worth and more importantly an identity. This I believe is why a hobby such as we have can be therapeutic. Just my 2 cents worth???
1. We have some fine young people right here on the Forum who have begun collecting.
2. Some people who have a positive attitude have gotten out and done things that are productive and get results, again right here on the Forum.
3. I applaud #1, but it is not news that a lot of serious collecting gets done later in life when you have more time and money and are not struggling with things like paying for your education, getting yourself established in the workplace, and having a young family to support. And last time I checked, there is an ever self replenishing supply of older people.
4. When you show the white flag before anybody shows up, of course you are going to loose the battle. If you go into something thinking you will fail, without doubt you will. People gravitate to people who are positive and reasonably enthusiastic. It is contagious. They flee those who are negative.
Clay
Last edited by FloridaClay on Fri Feb 21, 2014 9:27 am, edited 1 time in total.
Arthur W. J. G. Ord-Hume's Laws of Collecting
1. Space will expand to accommodate an infinite number of possessions, regardless of their size.
2. Shortage of finance, however dire, will never prevent the acquisition of a desired object, however improbable its cost.
another poll shows that 85% of us bought their first phonograph or gramophone at the age of 29 or younger.
This means we purchased our machines at great (low) prices, no longer available to younger potential newcomers. I believe that the current declining of prices is eventually to be wonderful in perpetuating our hobby. I predict a further decline in prices with the aging and eventual death of current hobbyists, flooding the market with machines and records, and with that the influx of new interests. This has recently happened in the antique car field for pre-world-war-II cars. Florida Clay is right, however. This is not really an activity that is attractive to the quite young. It's a middle-age and later type of activity for most people. While it's true that many of us may have entered the hobby at a younger age, I bet most came in later on.
Either way, I support and encourage the decline in prices in machines and records. What does it matter how much we paid for that now-rare machine after we are gone? Or how much it is worth on today's (or tomorrow's) market? We enjoy it now and that's it. It should be "hobby money" not an investment for some future profit for the benefit of our heirs.
I was at an auction recently bidding on milk crates of early 78s when I realized I was bidding against a young guy. He told me he just "loved" the sound of old records. I let him bid alone on the crates, which he obtained at under $10 each. I figured, how many more records do I need and do I need them at the expense of this guy just getting interested? Sure, I could have bought them and resold them on ebay for some sort of profit to satisfy my greed, but why not let someone else into the hobby? Recalling a comment to me on an earlier thread on the subject, I recall buying five pink Lambert cylinders at a yard sale for 50-cents each. I gave two to a friend in the next town who collects and kept three for myself. The music on them is uninspired, but what do you advise me to do? Sell them for some unreasonable profit to satisfy some sense of greed? No, I'll save them until I find a new guy who may really enjoy them.
Although I acquired my first machine at age ten, my collecting almost stopped when the priorities of earning a living, buying a home and raising a family took over. I am sure that others have similar tales to tell.
Only when I took early retirement on good financial terms did I really get going again. Once my time was my own I attended numerous auctions, antiques fairs, flea markets and car boot sales with varying degrees of success. I joined the CLPGS, making many lasting friendships and greatly increasing my knowledge. Later I signed up to eBay, enabling me to buy and sell anywhere in order to vary and enhance my collection, and later still I joined this forum with it's international wealth of knowledge and experience.
My son and daughter-in-law are both classically trained professional musicians with a genuine interest in antiques and collectables, especially anything music related. When my wife and I join the ultimate deletions list, they will keep as much of my collection as they choose, and use their knowledge to find good homes at good prices for the rest. It is too early to tell whether my grandchildren will show an interest in the hobby. If they do they will receive every encouragement, and if they don't they will enjoy spending the proceeds.
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