The history of an avid pioneer collector from the 1940s

[obmcclintock]

I don't know how many of you remember an old time collector on the west by name of Ira Dueltgen? I believe that this man was one of the pioneers and one of the first era of antique phonograph collectors. He was a very good friend of mine back in the 70s, 80s, 90s and then we moved away from the area. I wish that he had written a book about his life as he had a multitude of stories that he gladly shared with his friends. If you will indulge me I would like to share a few with you from memory. I am also a member on another phonograph forum where this was posted but I thought that it would interest some older collectors here and how they can relate.

He started collecting in the 40s when hand crank phonos were being traded in on electric phonographs in a shop in his home town. As the clerks would take in an old phonograph in trade on a new G.E. or Columbia electric model they would remove the horns and line them up on the street just before school was out and the kids would ride by on their bikes and pick them up alleviating the necessity for the shop to dispose of them. He was soon wise to their actions so he would beat them to it watching the clerks activity right before school was out. He collected not only many horns but also made a deal with the shop to purchase the machines very inexpensively. In those days the shop keepers didn't know an Opera from a Q so he said that he obtained some exceptional machines that in later years as other collectors came into view, would prove to be out of reach of his budget as he was raising a family while working for the city. In his basement, when knew him, he probably had 100 to 200 machines and all of exceptional quality. He had pristine wooden horn machines, an Opera, an Idelia or two, Concert and coin op machines as well. He had the only pink Gem that I have seen. We just assumed that it was a specially made one for some very privileged individual in those early years. He loved to do guided tours and we collectors loved each tour. He said that in those early years every flea market had at least one hand crank phonograph. VVIVs were as common as clothing at each sale as were Victrolas. The horn machines were also not that uncommon at many sales, auctions,flea markets, and garage sales. 78s were throw aways in those days. Boxes of cylinder were a buck or two. We all laughed as he was telling us that when he would walk into a flea market and if he spotted a horn machine everything else stopped. He heard, saw,and was aware of nothing else until inspection and purchase. Last but not least he told us of the very rare machine that he saw in the paper at a farm auction. It was many miles from Portland. The day of the auction was rainy and Ira had a feeling that the auction would not be well attended. He arrived at the site after driving for hours, waded through mud and cold, completely soiling his pants and shoes but was undaunted in his quest. He was right. There was only a handful of people there. He was freezing cold but bravely stood by HIS machine until that lot came up. He knew his limit. His rent was about due and he only had X number of dollars to spend. Excitedly the auctioneer started the bidding as usual very high at first until the crowd would begin to respond to lower numbers. Much to Iras dismay the first number that the auctioneer spoke, which was far above Iras total spending limit met with about a half dozen hands. He did not even wait until the end of the bidding but stomped away in the mud mad as hell !!! He was hilarious in telling that story, one would have to know Ira !! He was a wealth of knowledge and a dear friend. He was a prince of a man and I miss Ira and I loved spending time in his basement. I just wanted to share some stories of a very early collector. I would not mind seeing other old time collectors on here with their stories.

[Wolfe]

Yes. We must bow to the foresight of these early collectors. This stuff wasn't but 30 or 40 years old at the time and treated as basically junk by most.

[STARR-OLA]

Awesome story..

[VintageTechnologies]

I have seen the name, but knew nothing about Ira. Thanks for great stories from "the dark ages". By that I mean that in the old days (pre-Internet), many collectors were pretty isolated and so information and machines were scarce in some parts of the country. I became seriously interested in phonographs by age 13 back in 1966. I thought I was the only one with such a specific disease. Besides local antique shops, my only source for machines and information was through articles and want-ads in the Hobbies magazine. I found a copy of "From Tinfoil to Stereo" in 1967 and practically memorized it. I bought a few things from Thomas Pollard in California and some from an old-timer named Nugent in Virginia. I finally went to Union in the early 1980's and was stunned by the abundance of machines there.

[Phototone]

I bought a few things from Thomas Pollard in California and some from an old-timer named Nugent in Virginia. I finally went to Union in the early 1980's and was stunned by the abundance of machines there.

Oh, how I remember A. Nugent, Jr. My dad ordered quite a number of things from him for me. (I was a child collector). Nugent also handled some repairs. I also remember Pollard, but I don't think I ever ordered anything from him. Nugent used to mail out lists of records and machines for sale. I was also an avid reader of Hobbies magazine, where these people advertised, and Jim Walsh had a very entertaining column on early records. I'm 63 now.

[TinfoilPhono]

I was a latecomer, only getting in the hobby in 1961. It really was the dark ages. No one knew what was rare and what wasn't. And yes, they were for the most part seen as just so much old 'junk'. I hate to think about all the upright Victrolas that I was given free of charge, and which I'd scrap out for sheer lack of room. From Tinfoil to Stereo was all I had to go on as far as printed matter. I did slowly find other collectors around the country with whom I corresponded regularly, and they were helpful mentors -- notably Neumann Miller and Larry Schlick.

The fun part was that I never knew what I'd find next. But with no idea of real rarity I made some misjudgments. Like a Gem B for which I paid $25 -- the highest price I had ever paid for a phonograph up to that time. I had lots of Standards and Homes (usually for a few bucks apiece) so I knew those were common, but I had never seen a Gem before and I foolishly figured it must be rare.

But there were other 'gems', so to speak. Like a mint Columbia AB with 4 Concert records for $20 in a local junk shop; a Columbia BO with 2/4 minute attachment and Herzog half-barrel full of cylinders for $40; or a Zonophone A for $27; or a super-mint Victor V with oak spearpoint for $40. The list goes on.

They were fun times, despite our collective ignorance.

One of these days I plan to dig out a pile of old price lists and write an article about relative values. Obviously it's fun to think about $20 Columbia ABs but $20 was still a lot of money for a kid in 1962. What is more compelling is seeing how people valued certain machines in relation to others. For example, I remember one of Ray Phillips' old lists in which he offered an Edison Ajax for less than a Paillard hot-air Maestrophone. The latter is certainly very rare and valuable, but not in Ajax price range today.

[zenith82]

He sounds like a guy who was ahead of his time. What he was doing back then was basically the equivalent of someone picking up a 1980s television from the curb today. These are the guys we have to thank for establishing the hobby we love in the 21st Century.

I'm surprised any dealers were taking in acoustic disc or cylinder machines in trade in the 1940s. I know a lot of these machines met their fate in the scrap drives during the WWII years along with countless early appliances and radios.

[obmcclintock]

I think that the trade ins were just a come-on to purchase the newer electric machines. They probably gave a buck or two towards the new one but in those days that was probably a good incentive if they needed just a nudge to buy something newer. I just remembered a time in the early 60s when I walked through an old barn near a little town of Ruthven iowa that was owned by a customer from my dads farm store. He had lots of little wooden boxes with round lids on just about every shelf that I saw. In inquiring about them the man told me that he had been collecting old Edisons for years. He had many standards, homes, and even a few old concert machines with boocoo cylinders. I think that he probably was just given some of them by locals. The others he probably obtained at sales and auctions for a few bucks each. I have not been back there for years and I always wondered what happened to all of them. Basically no one else in that part of the country was interested in such junk except him and myself. I was interested in buying one of them but my dad asked what I wanted a piece of junk such as that for???? Dad grew up with that kind of stuff so he saw little value in such things. Oh well, I kept my interest and have been doing so on and off for the past 50 years.

[need4art]

This is interesting-I have a business card with the name of Earl V. Wilsom "Edisonian Exhibitors" "The Curious Country Cousin" Burlington, Iowa that was given to me along with a photo of his dad setting up a 45-50 machine display-all Edison's-at a Iowa high school. He gave me the card and the photo when I bought an Edison machine from him.

I often wonder if anyone knows this man and thougth what a great resource he would have been if I would have met him before he passed away.

Abe

[Jerry B.]

Thanks for starting this thread. Dottie and Ira Dueltgen were two of the finest persons I've been blessed to know. As a new collector in the early seventies, Ira was generous with his knowledge and time. It was such fun to spend a day with Ira. Phono collecting was more of a regional hobby back in a time before computers and big clubs like MAPS. In the Pacific Northwest the hobby seemed to center in the little home of Ira and Dottie Dueltgen. Thanks for bringing back good memories. Jerry Blais