The Talking Machine Forum — For All Antique Phonographs & Recordings

I have the option of buying 32 diamond disc from someone I've been in contact, for $2.50 a piece. That'd be $80 for the whole lot with $20 in shipping that he's set. About half of them are pr-1920 with the holographic labels, a little less than half of them still have their sleeves. (They include some popular songs. )

I wanted to ask my fellow members if this sounds like a fair deal? I don't know much about them and wanted to ask before I missed the opportunity.

Thanks!

Shouldn't this be in our "record" section..??.
If you can afford them and like the titles (not listed)....go for it. Everyone's taste in music is different. So, only you can make that decision...

gramophone78 wrote:Shouldn't this be in our "record" section..??.
If you can afford them and like the titles (not listed)....go for it. Everyone's taste in music is different. So, only you can make that decision...

I was wondering where I should post questions like this, so forgive me if it's in the wrong place. I've gotten away with asking similar questions here. So I thought It'd be fine.

Thanks, gramophone78.

At that price, and assuming that the discs are in good condition, I would do it if I had the money.

If you can get titles and be choosy, I'd recommend that.

Etched label Diamond Discs also have a reputation for high level of surface noise...

Also would help you to know about condition: edge chips, any delamination...


Including shipping, you're paying about $3.15 / disc... that's better than the usual antique-store prices, but w/o knowing the titles, it's a crap-shoot whether all 32 discs will be "keepers"...

I want to thank everyone for their advice!

The seller was making it an all or nothing option, and after talking more with him he found a few more discs laying about, so the total was closer to 40. I quickly went over the photos he shared of all of the ones he had earlier, and only 3 or four of them were chipped. (Nothing going over any grooves.) Most of them were in fair or good condition. Half of them were pre-20s with about 5 or 6 being red star electrically recorded.

With finding even more discs he kept our original deal, and I have to say I leapt at it. I bought them all for $100.(That's with shipping.)

Benjamin_L wrote:about 5 or 6 being red star electrically recorded.

There were no electrically recorded Edison Diamond Discs with the red star that I am aware of. That said, however, there were some decent red star selections on acoustic Edison Diamond Discs. Many earlier etched label Diamond Discs for the most part are noisy (due primarily to inferior surface composition at the time they were manufactured) as mentioned earlier and I have avoided them like the plague for many years but you may get lucky with this group and find that they are enjoyable.

FellowCollector wrote:

Benjamin_L wrote:about 5 or 6 being red star electrically recorded.

There were no electrically recorded Edison Diamond Discs with the red star that I am aware of. That said, however, there were some decent red star selections on acoustic Edison Diamond Discs. Many earlier etched label Diamond Discs for the most part are noisy (due primarily to inferior surface composition at the time they were manufactured) as mentioned earlier and I have avoided them like the plague for many years but you may get lucky with this group and find that they are enjoyable.

Alright, my misunderstanding. It was to my knowledge the Red star was added later to stand out as electricity recorded vs. acoustic. I thought I remembered one of Jack Stanley's videos talking about it, but my mistake.

The "red star" records were made in the early or mid 20s for awhile and just meant that dealers could not return them to the Edison Co. if they did not sell. There are some highly desirable records with red stars though. For example, there are some early 1923-24 black female blues songs that are desirable today. The Edison Co. at that time felt that jazzy records like that by black performers would not be sure fire sellers to genteel, well-to-do Edison customers.

As Doug said, "for the most part" the etched labels tend to be noisy; but if they happen to be the earliest "transfer" pressings (1912 - mid 1915), they have amazingly low surface noise, if in good condition. (Alas, those pressings happen to be particularly vulnerable to moisture, which causes splitting and curling of the surface).

Bill