The Talking Machine Forum — For All Antique Phonographs & Recordings

I had a Woman contact me about a machine. When I looked it over I could tell her husband was a 70's collector. His SIN (social insurance number) was engraved all over it.... . He even had it on the tone arm..????. However, the real over kill was having engraved the number on the Vic. data plate AND the Berliner distributor plate....???. Back in the 1970's law enforcement up here in Canada recommended people mark all valuables so if they were recovered.....they could be traced back to the owner. People marked everything and anything.

The idea however was to mark the item in a inconspicuous place.... . Not all over the place!!!!.

I had to pass on this. He had marked all his stuff. Regardless of what it was.

About 25 or 30 years ago I encountered this on an otherwise very nice BI Graphophone. The owner had engraved his SS number right into the center petal of the large nickel-plated horn. Nice, big numbers, too. I figured the horn as a total loss since the guy had engraved deeply - there was no way to grind/buff/polish it out, and how could one petal be replaced?

He was fishing for a price, and apparently didn't like what I told him, as I never heard from him again.

George P.

Ouch!!!!!

I can well remember those days. Today the mantra is to protect your Social Security Number and not reveal it to anyone, back then we were encouraged to mark it on everything. Go figure.

I've seen a lot of things damaged in that manner. In my everyday job of restoring vintage watches I can't even count the number that have crossed my workbench with deep, ugly, badly-scribed Social Security numbers gouged into case backs.

Those days are still here, in Minnesota anyway. I don't know if this exists elsewhere, but we have Operation ID here. This link is to the current St. Paul Operation ID website: http://www.stpaul.gov/index.aspx?NID=2282
Operation ID numbers are much longer than Social Security numbers and I find them etched into all sorts of things. This has been around since the 60s or 70s, and I remember my Dad etched his tools and had us kids etch our stuff too. We didn't have antiques so didn't deface any of them, but I regularly find other people's Operation ID numbers on things for sale here.

phono-farm wrote:Those days are still here, in Minnesota anyway. I don't know if this exists elsewhere, but we have Operation ID here. This link is to the current St. Paul Operation ID website: http://www.stpaul.gov/index.aspx?NID=2282
Operation ID numbers are much longer than Social Security numbers and I find them etched into all sorts of things. This has been around since the 60s or 70s, and I remember my Dad etched his tools and had us kids etch our stuff too. We didn't have antiques so didn't deface any of them, but I regularly find other people's Operation ID numbers on things for sale here.

I'm sorry to read this. You think that most would realize (at least with phonographs) they are not an easy item to fence. Maybe we will see an idiot take one to the "Pawn Stars" or better yet the guys at "Hardcore Pawn" in Detroit. At least they will offer $5.00 for one... .