Incredible deal

[Nat]

Saw this today in the Seattle are cg: http://bellingham.craigslist.org/atq/4735377960.html

I have no place, and can't afford it, but someone here might want to snap it up:

[Curt A]

This may be a scam... if not, it is a really good deal.

[Bruce]

A couple of us have already tried to reach the seller with no success.

I guess someone has already made the purchase and the seller has not taken down their add?

[jboger]

That's a very interesting machine. I like that outside mainspring and horizontal crank, although a bit awkward to wind. The spindle seems to be "non-standard." Who made it and when? is it European?

[phonogfp]

That's a very interesting machine. I like that outside mainspring and horizontal crank, although a bit awkward to wind. The spindle seems to be "non-standard." Who made it and when? is it European?

Here's an article you might enjoy. The 12th picture in the article briefly describes Berliner Gramophones.

http://www.antiquephono.org/encounterin ... onographs/

What appears to be the spindle is actually a clamp that secures the record to the turntable (called a "circular clamp" in the original instructions). The Berliner Gramophones (there were a few different models) were the first disc-playing talking machines available to the public in the United States and Canada. You should familiarize yourself with them in case you encounter one in the wild someday.

George P.

[FloridaClay]

And $700, if it sold for that, would be an incredible bargain!

Clay

[jboger]

Thanks, George P. So it's a Berliner. I've been learning the name. Seems we speak of Emil and his machines with some reverence. A comment about the $700 price. It seems to me when a seller is ignorant of what he or she has, one of two things happen: (1) the item is sold dirt cheap, I mean really dirt cheap, or (2) it is way over priced and nobody buys it. $700 is not chump change. How did the seller land on that price? I think the ad is a feeler. The sellers want to see if there is any interest in the item.

. . . and a few minutes later. I looked at that article and all the pretty pictures. Another angle of that Berliner. I like how the mainspring barrel is half "immrersed" in the cabinet. I'd love to stumble on one of those, but they must all be in collectors's hands by now.

[miker2001]

I saw the ad within a few hours and immediately wrote to the seller. I have sent follow ups without a response. I am suspicious. The seller claimed ignorance, yet had exceptional pictures. Someone like that would have done their research in all likelihood. Too good to be true. Did any forum member get a response or score the machine?

[Scott]

I sent an email last week and have not received anything either.. Scam?!?!?!?!

[phonogfp]

I don't know what the situation is with this Berliner, but I'm reminded of something that happened to me about 24 years ago - - right after we moved into this house. I had put ads in the local papers wanting to buy antique phonographs. I had a few calls, and a couple even worked out. But one call was from a young woman (she sounded like she was in her thirties...) telling me that she and her husband had just moved into a house in York (a small village 10 miles north of us). She said their house was old, and they had found an old phonograph in the attic. She said she knew it was a phonograph because it said "Edison Phonograph" on it. She also said she wanted to get rid of it. I asked if there was a "middle word" on the decal like "Edison Gem Phonograph" or Edison Standard Phonograph" or... She said she thought it was "Edison Home Phonograph" and when I asked her where the decal was located, she said it was on the lid. Well, at that time I didn't have a suitcase Home, so I was eager to see this machine. I offered to drive over, take a look at it, and make her a fair offer regardless of its condition. Her response? "Oh you can have it. I drive through your town every day to and from work, so if you have a porch or something, I'll just leave it."

Believe it or not, I've had a couple of people do just that over the years - - sometimes I've had to track them down and make them take money. So this didn't seem as crazy as it might sound now (by the way, this hasn't happened again since then!). I protested, saying that "I have to give you something for it. Once I see it, I'll give you a fair price. Regardless of its condition, it's worth something." Well, she was insistent on leaving this Home on my front porch. She asked for my address and said she'd drop if off a morning or two later. I gave her my address and then asked for hers so I could send her a check. She repeated - very nicely by the way (she sounded perfectly plausible throughout the whole conversation) that she didn't want anything for the machine. After a few minutes she brought the conversation to a close and politely hung up.

I took time off of work the morning she was supposed to drop off the machine so I could convince her to accept payment. But she never showed up. That night she called again, apologizing that her husband hadn't gotten around to bringing down the machine, but she would drop it off the next morning or the morning after. She still wouldn't give me her address or even her phone number. If I remember right, I sort of gave up catching her at that point - after all, I couldn't be taking off work every morning. My memory is a bit hazy on the details, but what I do remember is that she never showed up.

Over the intervening years, I've occasionally recalled this incident, and wondered what the woman's motives might have been. Or did her husband decide they should keep it? But if so, why didn't they contact me for information or repairs (which I offered should they decide to keep it)? Was she just getting off by imagining she was driving some stranger crazy? (If so, I must have frustrated her by continuously offering to buy the machine.) She sounded like a normal person...except for that "no address/no phone number sharing" thing. I guess I'll never know.

George P.