The Talking Machine Forum — For All Antique Phonographs & Recordings

I have been buying for years, I live here in Merrillville, Indiana just outside of Chicago, in the 1980's there there were maybe 3 nice flea markets (nicer clean ones), I would go out scouting for records. I had so much fun, I would mostly find a box of old Kay Kyser, Tony Bennett in with Dinah Shore you get the drift, but then I pulled out a hand ful of goodies, Victor 38000 series McKinneys Cotton Pickers, and then reach down in the box and sandwich between Bob Crosby and Dinah Shore there would be Mound City Blues Blowers....Oh my on e-bay just them two records would be over $ 30.00, I paid maybe $ 10.00 for a boxful. The fun is in looking through the records.

Most of the flea markets around here are downhill or out of business. The antique stores are overpriced and I don't know whats happened but you rarely see 1940's records anymore... you never see anything older than 1940.
I am not kidding. I think alot of stuff has been collected, and has hit e-bay. We can't forget as we move away from the area, these fragile records have been broken, tossed, burned in fires etc. You name it we lose so many records each year with time.

Are there alot of records, in my opinion yes! But not as many as we think, at least the good ones. I used to pay top dollar, but can easily end up record rich and cash broke, especially with fees on ebay. Truthfully heres my values:

1940-forward (Kay Kyser, Perry Como, Kate Smith etc.)..... free - $ .50 each
other hot jazz items and stuff........ $ 2.00 to 5.00
Rare records like Edison 52000, Victor 38000, etc. maybe a little more not much more, and if they are worth $ 25.00 or more then let them go to the rich collector, he or she deserves to set them on their shelves.

Thats my two cents. have fun thats what its all about... not spending your hard earned money, going bankrupt or crying over what we can't afford...lets all go hunting.

The early stuff is still there. Not too long ago I bought a lot of over a hundred records for $7 from a Craigslist seller. Some were 40s & 50s, but there were also some grand prize, batwing, and scroll Victors and some nice Columbia Viva-tonals. There were also a bunch of early recordings thrown in the deal for a decent Pathé upright I bought about a year ago for $80.

Clay

victrorcollector wrote: I am not kidding. I think alot of stuff has been collected, and has hit e-bay. We can't forget as we move away from the area, these fragile records have been broken, tossed, burned in fires etc. You name it we lose so many records each year with time.

I think when the second hand stores (the ones that will accept them in the first place) have boxes of 78's that sit unsold for a length of time, the end result often is a trip to the dumpster. If there happened to be some 14" Victor Deluxe in there, too bad.