The Talking Machine Forum — For All Antique Phonographs & Recordings

Today I scored big on Craigslist. Someone had listed Edison phonographs with a picture of a Gold Molded and a green Amberol box. I sent them an email stating I was interested and asked how many they had. They said 4 big boxes, about 240 cylinders, most in their original boxes. They used to live near Orange and they got them from one of their neighbors who was a collector. I bought the whole lot, about half of each GM and Amberol. A few hours later I received another email from them, they had found a wooden trunk full of 80 Edison cylinders they had forgotten, if I wanted those as well. Fortunately they are only about 10 miles from were I live, so I went right back and bought a massive wooden transport case with another 80 wax Amberols in their original boxes. So I quadrupled my cylinder collection in one day for relatively cheap and most in great clean condition. Still cannot believe this has happened to me.

Andreas

Here are some pictures of my first load. Cylinders are stacked in two layers in each box.

I'm jealous. I would have made the trip from New Jersey myself. I was lucky that way about two years ago when I found a steamer trunk full of more that 200 brown wax cylinders that were all in like new condition. Sometimes we just luck out.

Rich Gordon

alang wrote:Today I scored big...

Congratulations Andreas.
Endless hours of listening and sorting.
Don't forget to eat and sleep!
James.

WOW The kind of thing we all dream of. Congratulations indeed!

Clay

That is a dream!!! The mid west where I live, the wax cylinders, have not been turning up in good condition lately, I find them but pass, as they are moldy and pitted beyond use.

What a great find, certainly nothing that will turn up here in Europe. Congrats!
Is it all variety or was it theme collection of certain content?

Thanks for the nice comments. Like James said, endless hours of sorting and listening ahead of me. Seems to be a mixture of everything from old folk songs over Xmas to Ragtime, but I have only looked at a few of them yet. I also need to find a better way for storage and display. They are way too nice to stay in boxes.
Andreas