The Talking Machine Forum — For All Antique Phonographs & Recordings

I can only bring myself to throw away records which are damaged or literally worn out.

I keep duplicates of records which I am likely to play outdoors at car shows etc.

I give to and/or swap with collector friends.

Anything else not wanted goes to a local charity shop where a collector friend is a volunteer helper. There is a small but steady demand for these records, and of course my friend keeps his eyes open for any coming in from other sources. No blue label Zonophones or Bettini cylinders have turned up yet...

There probably are enough collectors in PGH to do a swap but I am sure I have nothing good.

Well that might be just a bit much James, even for me.

It would be fascinating to know the back story.

Clay

In all honesty and at the risk of recognizing I am in the vast minority on this subject, I have admittedly (and with zero thought of remorse) tossed many hundreds of horrible condition to absolutely mint and likely unplayed 1940's 78's in the garbage. As an example, if a seller requires my taking a large group of 78's to obtain the few that I really want I first remove from the group all the red label Columbia, black script label Decca, Majestic, Capitol and other 1940's labels regardless of condition. I then scan quickly through the artist information on the label and pull out any unusual artists (most are not!) and titles and the rest are tossed in the garbage after removing the sleeve if it has one. I know of no one who would accept them ( believe me, I have tried ) and I will not make room for them as I don't care for the music. Sounds horrible I know. If I had known of someone who wanted them and would pick them up in a reasonable amount of time I would have put them aside but most people I know have zero use for them. My sincere apologies to those who feel this is crude and unreasonable. I am committed to be perfectly honest. - Doug

Actually I know of others that do exactly what you do, Doug, and at least you're honest! One is local to me and now he passes them to me so I can at least save any worth keeping for either myself or someone else. I still throw out the completely trashed stuff first. The rest go in the Craigslist free boxes. Have you tried that? My friend lives in one of the tri-cities and has great luck giving them away like that. I live off the beaten path and wouldn't have any luck putting them out for somebody to just come and take, unfortunately, and I also wouldn't want anyone poking around my house when I wasn't there!

Sean

OrthoSean wrote: The rest go in the Craigslist free boxes. Have you tried that?

Great idea Sean! I had never thought of that. That would be much better for my conscience and that of others who might want the 78's that I don't! Thanks for the suggestion. - Doug

It makes me CRINGE when I talk to people about old records and they say they've used 'em for target practice!!edisonplayer

edisonplayer wrote:It makes me CRINGE when I talk to people about old records and they say they've used 'em for target practice!!edisonplayer

Okay, I can see your point of view, but what would you do in my position? I mentioned in an earlier post that I had a pile that I smash and use for mixing adhesives on. Probably just as bad as target practise, but at least they are ending their lives being useful! I now have about 400 of the darned things over and above what I'll ever need for that purpose, so what do I do with them? They are a mixture of odd bits of symphonies, complete symphonies in cased sets, the usual 1950s stuff that everyone has, and obscure artists bellowing out "Gems from "The Mikado", etc etc. I would be embarrassed to let anyone come any distance only to be met with this load of c---p, the local charity shops don't want them, and neither do the other collectors that I know, they have the same problem! Let's be honest, there's been a lot of rubbish put onto discs over the last hundred years, there are still millions of 78s out there, so I have no problems with dumping a few hundred undesirable ones at the local tip occasionally. Ask yourself the question,would you want that lot?

I should perhaps add, that I also keep "interesting" records, that I don't want myself, i.e. Music Hall, personalities, Rock 'n Roll, etc. Because I don't want them, that's no reason to destroy them. They usually find a good home in a very short while. It's only the utter rubbish that gets dumped!

There's always room for another record or two , or twenty...When I started collecting , more than a few years ago , 78s were everywhere , and I chose only 20's foxtrots..as time passed on , my tastes changed , and the desire to have , and listed to different eras increased. Who knows what the next favourite flavour will be , but I've got the records...somewhere...

m0xiemama wrote:There probably are enough collectors in PGH to do a swap but I am sure I have nothing good.

I am.