The Talking Machine Forum — For All Antique Phonographs & Recordings

Here is a bit of ephemera found with a C19 Diamond Disc I just picked up. A rather bizarre combination of products and service found at a Superior, Nebraska, store.

Clay

And here's his grave:

http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cg ... d=41162408

Apparently, it was a successful business.

Many undertakers in smaller communities would have other sidelines. It would help when business was slow. Furniture went along with cabinet and coffin making. And a nice cabinet machine went along with the furniture merchandise. And a C19/C250 weighs almost about the same as a coffin!

And here is a picture of the building, taken at a time it was for sale. It is one of the downtown Superior buildings registered on the National Register of Historic Places. Per info on the internet, there is an antique shop there now.

Clay

At the findagrave site, did you notice that one of his children was born in 1899 and died in 2001? Her life touched three different centuries. Neat!

Thanks for the interesting post. Thanks also to Dennis for the extra information. We do lots of family history work for our church and enjoy stories like this one.

As others have said, it wasn't too uncommon for furniture makers and cabinet makers to also make coffins; however, to do the actual embalming was a bit rarer, but not unheard of.

Now, I wonder if they had any cheap customers who instead of purchasing a new coffin instead opted for an empty Edison Diamond Disc phono crate.