Well, I didn't score anything like some of the spectacular stuff already on this thread. Still, I was very pleased with what came my way.
About 15 years ago I was walking around the Union show saw a fellow had just taken possession of a five-inch Columbia Grand cylinder box. It hadn't sold at the show, but was a pre-arranged sale - which made me feel a little better that I hadn't missed it. What was so special about it? It was made of
tin. We collectors are all a little different, and a tin five-inch cylinder box with labels probably doesn't get some of us excited. Well, it sure got my attention - and I've been hoping to find one ever since, with no luck. For a couple of years I've been aware that a buddy actually had one of these rare tin Grand Record boxes, and I occasionally joked with him about when was he going to break down and sell me that box... On my part, it was all a joke. Then last spring, he told me that he "could be persuaded." I told him to name his price, he did, and it may have taken me a half-second to agree. Like Gene's wonderful addition, a big part of this acquisition is what I consider to have been a genuine act of friendship on the part of an advanced collector. It warms my heart every time I look at it. Here's a shot of it next to a conventional Grand box to show the difference in size:
And here's a shot with the lid off showing the red felt lining. (Oh - the beautiful cream-colored record came with it too.):
At the Union show this year I stumbled into a number of really great records, among them this 1899 Vitaphone disc:
I was also lucky enough at Union purchase a rare fiber horn for Zonophone or Berliner. I needed this to help complete an otherwise nice Zonophone Type C that had been sitting incomplete for 10 years. All that remained was a traveling arm, and that miraculously turned up earlier this month!
I thought my record/box finds this years really couldn't go much further, but a lucky eBay discovery netted this Edison Concert Blank box, which was shipped all the way from India! This is the only Concert Blank box I've ever had a chance to obtain:
While at the fall Wayne show I bought two machines. One was 4-clip Standard equipped with a Blackman Reproducer, the brackets for a Hawthorne & Sheble No.4 crane, and a dealer label from Patterson, N.J.. Here's a marginal photo:
There are also a couple of photos in this earlier thread - before the machine was cleaned up:
http://forum.talkingmachine.info/viewto ... by#p164511
The other machine was an Edison Gem Model D, which was dirty but cleaned up remarkably well. These crappy photos don't do it justice, but they'll have to do until I generate enough energy to set up my photo equipment:
I hope 2017 holds many pleasant surprises for all of us!
George P.
