The Talking Machine Forum — For All Antique Phonographs & Recordings

i hope those machines/parts have gone to a good home!

Oh, I think I am going to be in mourning all day!!!

Out of curiosity, what did he want for the whole thing?

Clay

There must be a moment when you think to yourself "could I take this on?"

mjbramham wrote:There must be a moment when you think to yourself "could I take this on?"

Yes, looks like a lifetime of restoration work there.

Clay

To answer the questions you both asked.....The price for all was 78K USD. At a time 1999 when my Canadian dollar was at 60%. Therefore, not even close to being worth it. The next big problem was trying to get it out from the middle of Mexico and then back to Canada. Again, very pricey. The spruce horn was one item I needed to rescue out of there and did. The most I have had crated and brought out of Mexico in one trip by air was seven machines and seven horns for a total of 5 wooden crates. We were (hard to believe) able to have all the crates put on our plane with us. I don't think I could get away with that today. Those were the good times.... .
Now in retrospect, our dollar being at par, etc... I may have pursued that collection a little harder today. It was (after five years) sold to a guy in Mexico City. Years later I started to see some of the parts selling in the US.