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So i was browsing around at the antique shop yesterday and a dealer i bought a few early victor records from came up to me and told me about a box of 20 Edison Diamond records he had in back so i took them home for $20 (not sure if thats good or bad) but upon further investigation of the stack of records which most have the original sleeves i came upon one that has a signature of Ray Cummings on the sleeve, its the only sleeve i have with it. Anybody know who this is? Thank you

Could this be the same Ray Cummings?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ray_Cummings

to quote from the article, "Cummings worked with Thomas Edison as a personal assistant and technical writer from 1914 to 1919."

Considering that most antique dealers are clueless about Diamond Discs, except that they're "old, and really thick, and have Edison's name on them, so they must be worth at least a million dollars a-piece"... going rate seems to be anywhere from $5 - $10+ per disc, no sleeve.

I think you did very well getting them for $1 each, with the original sleeves.

Suggest maybe that you photocopy / photograph your sleeves, as they seem to be very fragile...

Schmaltz wrote:Could this be the same Ray Cummings?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ray_Cummings

to quote from the article, "Cummings worked with Thomas Edison as a personal assistant and technical writer from 1914 to 1919."

Sounds possible, wonder if its his real signature on the sleeve? and why?

De Soto Frank wrote:Considering that most antique dealers are clueless about Diamond Discs, except that they're "old, and really thick, and have Edison's name on them, so they must be worth at least a million dollars a-piece"... going rate seems to be anywhere from $5 - $10+ per disc, no sleeve.

I think you did very well getting them for $1 each, with the original sleeves.

Suggest maybe that you photocopy / photograph your sleeves, as they seem to be very fragile...

lol that is exactly what alot of dealers mindsets are! & very good suggestion, sounds like a good idea to me. Now to find a diamond disk phonograph in my area reasonably priced!

Forum: Music Topic: Rachmaninoff: Coming soon to an Edison near you

Here's a little discussion on Cummings from a year or so ago. I'm not clever enough to do a fancy link to it, but it's in the Music Forum.

Jim

Here is the thread Jim refers to.

Clay

http://forum.talkingmachine.info/viewto ... f=3&t=8559