The Talking Machine Forum — For All Antique Phonographs & Recordings

After I bought my Victrola VI I found a few German stamps inside the motor compartment of World War I vintage.That's better than finding "creepy crawlers"!! edisonplayer

Just found some old papers in a BC34. One was a letter in a stamped envelope dated 1924, another was a later advert for phonograph needles. Mundane but odd, not things I've seen before.

An insect wing in a Columbia Vivatonal portable that probably belonged to Mothra's larger sibling...

Well just imagine finding 200 love letters that were received by the machines original owner and cunningly concealed on top of a horn under the motor-board, out of the view of his unsuspecting wife!

That's what was discovered inside my HMV 202.

The small village primary school which I attended in the 1950's had a Columbia 109a portable which was used to play country dancing records. In those days there were inter-school competitions for country dancing, and the 109a was taken to "away" fixtures as not every school had a gramophone.

I took good care to avoid any involvement in the dancing, but managed to get myself put in charge of the gramophone.

Soon after I left the school the 109a was replaced by a 3-speed record player, and years later I acquired the 109a which had been lying forgotten in a cupboard. The motor was solid and would not wind.

On removing the motor board I found that a mouse had built a nest inside the motor, and as I pulled out the hay and debris the motor purred into life. The mouse and it's family had long departed, deafened perhaps by the sounds of The Durham Reel and The Cumberland Square Eight.

Cigarette butt and dead moths in the tonearm of a Columbia BY I was repairing for a museum, and a mouse nest in the horn of a coworker's Columbia C-2.

I found these items in the back of my Silvertone. A silver fork, a wedding invitation and a school certificate. Regards, Johnny

Coincidentally, after looking at this thread which I couldn't add much to, I discovered some stuff in an Edison DD machine over the weekend that is interesting in a historical context.

The person who originally owned the machine must have been a classical lover, since there was an ad for Rachmaninoff recordings on DDs, but the most interesting was a letter to the owner of the machine sent in 1922.

The letter was from someone in Daytona, FL who was writing to bring the owner up to date on various things, but she included a first hand review of a concert she attended on February 1st, 1922 at 8pm in Daytona, which featured Frieda Hempel as the main attraction. Along with the letter were two newspaper clippings of the concert and a complete concert program... in addition were the original unpacking instructions for the machine, a shipping notice and two DD original sleeves.

I have found some fun and interesting items in machines over the years!
Many empty prohibition era booze and "medicine" bottles.
Quite a few 20s fashion catalogs, hidden from a cheap husband perhaps.
Also, a few nudie pictures from the 19teens!
My all time favorite find was an early Colt Junior semi auto pocket pistol in great working condition!!
Needles tins and bits of bugs and critters being the most common!

I recently purchased an Edison Home, model A, and found this newspaper folded in half, inside the case to catch oil drips, I suppose.