The Talking Machine Forum — For All Antique Phonographs & Recordings

fran604g wrote:

Roaring20s wrote:Over the years I'd bump into collectors around town.
This year, a change in my work schedule enabled me to meet weekly with one like-minded phono-nut.
I'd say a developing friendship counts as best of 2014.

James.

Well stated, James! In hindsight, I'd have to say the same thing.

Fran

Yes - Me too!

George P.

phonogfp wrote:

fran604g wrote:

Roaring20s wrote:Over the years I'd bump into collectors around town.
This year, a change in my work schedule enabled me to meet weekly with one like-minded phono-nut.
I'd say a developing friendship counts as best of 2014.

James.

Well stated, James! In hindsight, I'd have to say the same thing.

Fran

Yes - Me too!

George P.

Since I had a member move to our city.......me three.... .

What, is it Valentine's day in here all of a sudden?

Let's see...I think that's a dozen...!

George P.

phonogfp wrote:

Let's see...I think that's a dozen...!

George P.

Oh My.... . Maybe we better get back to Phono related "items" and not Phono "relationships"..... .

I blush...

My best find of 2014 was an empty cabinet, because it lead to a chain of events that turned out really well.

Some of you will remember my postings about the case for the first style (curved glass) Hexaphone 101, which I had turned up locally and had hoped to match up with someone who'd find a mechanism for it, thus extending the world's known supply of such machines from 3 to 4.

Well, it took about a year, but that's exactly what happened.

And the story gets even better. Any Hexaphone 101 mechanism would be technically correct for it, but supposedly only fewer than the first 140 or so originally had the curved tops. One of this forum's members owned one of the three other machines, and had serial number info for it...a number under 100...and guess what? The mech that was identified to be matched up to the empty cabinet had a serial number fewer than ten under that! So the mechanism is indeed fully correct for the cabinet, and so there will soon be four of them, not just three.

Whether this is serendipity or just dumb luck, it's exactly the kind of thing that makes this such a great hobby.

(Other than the online smoochfests that some of our members also seem to love, of course)

PeterF wrote: Whether this is serendipity or just dumb luck, it's exactly the kind of thing that makes this such a great hobby.

I agree. It reminds me of the time we were shooting the only known Devineau Biophone at the Union show for one of our books. This Biophone is featured in a video on the APS website here:

http://www.antiquephono.org/videos/

The then-owner did not have the original sound box, so we were rigging up a Victor Exhibition for the photos. A small knot of dealers and collectors were watching us set up the shot, when one of them asked, "That's called a BIOPHONE?" He rushed off to his booth and returned a minute later with - - you guessed it: an original Biophone sound box! As far as I know, it's the only known Biophone sound box. Now really...what were the chances? Happily, the Biophone attachment and its sound box were quickly united through a mutually agreeable transaction, and they remain so to this day many years later.

It may be dumb luck, but it's a beautiful thing when it happens!

George P.

Speaking of Biophone, why doesn't someone reproduce that crazy mechanism? It really would be great to be able to play discs on your cylinder machine...

Had to be my Victrola VV-XI table model with a stand. It was a perfect machine for me, a basket case mechanically and a real pleasure to get working. Cliff