The Talking Machine Forum — For All Antique Phonographs & Recordings

Your good name in this hobby is worth too much. Jerry Blais

Jerry, Its sad that some don't care about "good standing". It's like being back in first grade when you fought to be first in line no matter who you ran over to get there. Wes

Well, last year someone posted an Edison B-250 in Oak here that was about an hour away from me. I never would have known about it, mainly because I don't usually bother with checking Craigslist because the vultures usually are way ahead of me. I emailed the seller and gave her my number expecting to hear nothing back or "it's sold". I was surprised to hear back from her almost immediately. We talked on the phone a bit later and she had told me a flood of responses began mostly from people wanting to know about the records. I told her she had priced it very reasonably and the records weren't important and we agreed I'd come grab it the next morning. When I got there, the machine was in a dark corner and certainly was filthy, as were the records. I loaded it up, boxed up the DDs, key, duster and a few other little things nobody knew were with it and went to pay her the $200 she was asking. She handed me $60 back and thanked me for my honesty. She was very tired of the calls asking for every single detail and how firm she was on the price. There are some slippery people, for certain. It's a beautiful machine that I've still got to finish up, but it will stay with me. The records, incidentally were nearly all early frosted label DDs from 1913-14 with a few nice dance paper labels mixed in, neatly indexed with a set of correct original divider cards. I'm happy to have such a nice example of a B-250 in Oak. So anyway, that's just my $.02 on the subject. To me, when a hobby becomes a competition and everything boils down to dollars and cents, it's no longer a hobby, nor is it any fun.

Sean

OrthoSean wrote: . . . To me, when a hobby becomes a competition and everything boils down to dollars and cents, it's no longer a hobby, nor is it any fun.

Sean

Ditto!

Clay

...To me, when a hobby becomes a competition and everything boils down to dollars and cents, it's no longer a hobby, nor is it any fun.

Sean[/quote]

I agree wholeheartedly with this statement, and have reflected this principle in several comments that I have posted on this Forum. I have been around a long time, so, believe me, I have seen all walks of life when it comes to personalities of collectors. I am also well-versed on how to deal with them. My greatest concern is how this unscrupulous, greedy, cut-throat behavior affects the global outlook of collecting. We struggle daily to invite, recruit, and retain youth into our hobby. Yet, we then subject them, and one another, to this "have to have it all at any cost...monetarily or emotionaly" mentality. I recognize the thoughts of those in this thread that have made a verbal contract with a Craigslist seller to purchase an item...then go to the time and expense to travel the following day or weekend when you are available, just to be told that the item received so much attention on some "Forum" that guys were crawling out of the woodwork, and them item was sold. Of course we cannot control the behaviors of the Craigslist seller, but we can own our own behaviors as a society of collectors. Furthermore, I have personally been in the middle of countless situations where a collector, or collectors, had become sour because they were not ahead of me in line at a tag sale, and despite them offering to even buy my place in line, I refused to do so. So, what do they do? They get pissy, leave the site, call the sale promoter, and give them their appraisal of the targeted items and pursuade them to jack up the asking price just so someone doesn't get a deal. HAPPENS ALL THE TIME!! And, if that doesn't happen, and God forbid they just simply trail in the door behind you and find that you have made a commitment to purchase, or have purchased what they were there for...that is, if they didn't stomp you to death in an attempt to get to it...they either get pissy or, they badger you to sell it to them.
These are not just isolated events. This occurs at every single event where a phonograph is sold. So...I do empathize, in a way, with those that are adverse to the open sharing of the location of that sale or event that may be upcoming which may be selling a true gem of a machine. It is the equivalent of throwing bait out to the sharks on a feeding frenzy. Like it or not, it is the way that it is. It has been this way for as long as I can remember, and it will never change. As collectors, we simply must just identify that niche where we fit, and put ourselves there.
As for the guys who have adversely treated me at certain events, as Jerry so eloquently put it, it is all about reputation. I could easily disclose your identities publically, yet, I would rather guarantee you that if we ever show up at an event again, you will most certainly be making the trip back home empty handed.

WOW. Did this original post ever get off topic.

Mike

PHONOMIKE wrote:WOW. Did this original post ever get off topic.

Mike

Indeed it did!

Clay