The Talking Machine Forum — For All Antique Phonographs & Recordings

There was more than one stash of NOS Diamond Discs, left overs from dealers and jobbers when Edison went out of business. There was a very large one here in Florida that had been donated to a ministry group. About half of it was destroyed in a hurricane. Some of the remaining ones showed up from time to time on eBay, where I bought a few now and then up until about 3 or 4 years ago. They would arrive with 2 or 3 printed New Testaments in the box. I had an opportunity to buy the entire lot, but had neither the money nor the space to store them. I don't know what finally became of them.

Clay

Another stash of NOS Diamond Disks is at the Ford Museum -- two records made exclusively for Henry Ford and never catalogued. A stash of these were de-accessioned about 14 years ago and were sold through a prominent record dealer. Many of those went straight to eBay, earning significant profits for a few entrepreneurs.

Last time I was at the Ford about 6 or 7 years ago, attending Old Car Festival, the museum had a de-accession sale in the Benson Ford Research Center, selling enormous quantities of duplicates of auto-related paper ephemera. Off in one corner were two huge boxes full of Ford Diamond Disks, priced at $10 ea. I later talked with a friend who is a curator there, she told me that the quantities de-accessioned up until then barely scratched the surface. She wouldn't say exactly how many were still in storage but the implication was clear -- a LOT.

The sound quality of these NOS records was amazing but the musical content was much less enchanting.

I was given three wooden crates full of NOS batwing Victors. They are all Germanic folk music from the dusty back room of a music store in Wisconsin. I still haven't gotten around to listening to any of them, but it's neat to see them all shiny and new in clean Victor sleeves. I guess someday I will have a yen to hear some oomp pah pah music and yodeling, and I will have a great time.

Hey, if you don't feel that yen coming on anytime soon, feel free to send some of those records my way! Nothing better than yodeling and "oomp pah pah" music, wish I had more. I guess it's the German blood in me that resurfaces occasionally