The Talking Machine Forum — For All Antique Phonographs & Recordings

I tried running the Opera, and it seemed to advance, though I had taken the cylinder off. The horn bell wasn't correct or original to the machine. The buyer knew this, however. The bonus was an extra box containing a good-looking model L reproducer.
The Schoolhouse looked nice, with a small separation on the outer wooden rim edging seam. I've never seen one go for such a high price! If I recall correctly, one of these sold at Stanton's auction last November for around $1400.00. It was missing its ID plate.
The Edison C2 radio phonograph, WITHOUT LEGS, sold for $1800.00. The auctioneer caused some confusion during the bids, saying it was all there and complete. Some thought he meant that the legs were somewhere on the premises, but that wasn't the case.
After the uprights were sold, he brought out a box of keys and told the buyers to get one for their machines! No mention earlier (that I heard, anyway) that some phonos had keys.
I passed on a really nice Tanzbar player concertina, because the dozen rolls that were supposed to be included were not to be found. No help from the auctioneer when I searched the sales area and asked about them. After the bidding it was placed on the "sold" table, on top of a small wooden box containing the rolls! Were they stored away with the box of phono keys?!! I was disappointed!
Bob

The auction appeared poorly run. It seemed obvious that it was run by a company not familiar with phonographs. There were many items that did not make it into the catalog, so the bidding were sometimes done blindly. The buyer's premium was listed and advertised as 10%, but if you wanted to pay by credit card, the unadvertised buyer's premium was increased to 15%. And, there were many heavy-hitters there, inflating the bids and leaving little for the smaller collectors.

I thought the brass orthophonic reproducer was actually a gold colored pot-metal reproducer, because of the cracks. Maybe I missed the actual brass orthophonic reproducer.

Well I for one am gratified to learn about all those "bat wing" horns! Who says the auctioneers didn't know about antique phonographs?

George P.

Not to mention the Victor VV-XVI wing door, the Path phonographs, and the "Mahogany" XVI that looked just like Walnut. There was a gold orthophonic in one of the boxes, but there was also a nickel one attached to half of a tone arm that kept getting pushed to the bottom of a box. The big box of pot metal reproducers had a Zonophone (exhibition style) as well. I don't think they looked through much or some of the box items would have gone seperately. I overheard someone saying the horns had gotten mixed up as well which would explain some of the catalog mistakes. The credit card fee irritated me as well, but I couldn't find enough to buy to make that an issue in the end. Oh well at least I got to look at a whole lot of machines.

Was there an Edison Long Playing Diamond Disc console phonograph? I thought I saw one of those in the pre-auction photos. How much did it sell for? Thanks.

This was another unfortunate occurance, selling the Long-Play Edison: There was an album of 8-10 Edison Needle-Cut discs sitting on top of the machine. When it came time to sell, the auctioneer announced they'd be sold together, until someone asked, and then the auctioneer clearly stated that they'd be sold separately.
However, the winning bidder hadn't heard this, and bought the machine for $700.00, thinking he was getting both.
Though he clearly made a mistake, the auctioneer made no offer to resell the machine. Another example of how portions of the sale went. Shoddy.
The needle cut record album went for around $300 IIRC
Bob

WOW, one heck of a collection someone had!

Clay

This was only my 2nd auction(1st time to bid though). I found it pretty cool to see all those phonographs in one place. I did find the auctioneer to be quite confusing as other posts have stated quite succinctly. Did anyone else notice that the videographer was using a vhs camera? All in all I enjoyed it immensely, I only wish I would have gotten the cylinder cabinet to complement my edison phonograph. Maybe next time . Gary

Speaking of a large amount of machines being sold at one time, does anybody here remember the sale of the collection of Oscar Johnsons in Shell Lake Wisconsin back in the early to mid 90's? There were alot of machines and the auction company made many mistakes, dropping horns, mixing up purchases etc. Had a good time, but it was alot to take in at once.

Wes

barnettrp21122 wrote:This was another unfortunate occurance, selling the Long-Play Edison: There was an album of 8-10 Edison Needle-Cut discs sitting on top of the machine. When it came time to sell, the auctioneer announced they'd be sold together, until someone asked, and then the auctioneer clearly stated that they'd be sold separately.
However, the winning bidder hadn't heard this, and bought the machine for $700.00, thinking he was getting both.
Though he clearly made a mistake, the auctioneer made no offer to resell the machine. Another example of how portions of the sale went. Shoddy.
The needle cut record album went for around $300 IIRC
Bob

I ended up with the long play. Perfect example of me hearing only what I want to hear.I geuss the auctioneer was only joking about "how that would be the best deal of the day"-including the needle types,my ears turned off there. I asked a few people and it was clear to them he then said no they will go seperately. Oh well,still I think an ok investement with the seven records,maybe even a little profit if I find the right person who wants a complete machine.
Personaly I thought they did ok with descriptions and such. How many auctioneers or antique dealers in general actually have any knowlege about phonographs. There was plenty of time and he could have versed himself better but really is it worth his time,the buyer usually knows what he is looking at more than the auctioneer.
And no I will never attend a specialized auction again with the hopes of geting some deals unless my plan is to hang to the very end and gets some good deals on smalls after most folks are on thier way home or packing the car. I think I got more out of the vv-ix,six horns and a good box bits all for 160.00 in the last half hour.I only go to the Wayne MME show and watch ebay but I thought prices way high on some but there was some decent deals on nice stuff too if its bought to collect. I dont think I saw anything go that some one could make a killing on.
All in all it was fun and would do again.