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Last Friday, my kids babysitter sent me a frantic text, telling me I need to check out a house on the corner that is scheduled to be torn down on Tuesday. She said the house was full of every recording media (well, except cylinders) and there is a bucket load of 78s. So after work on Friday, I show up to the house, which clearly the resident was a hoarder, wearing my finest suit, and French cuffed shirt (exactly what you want to have on when raiding a hoard). Sure enough, records as far as the eye can see. I grabbed several boxes of every kind of Victor label I saw, several old VTLA record boxes, in various conditions, a box with must be every single record John McCormick record for Victor, a small stash of Pathé records, and who knows what else. To be honest, I'm not entirely sure what I ended up with. There was also a four foot long box with Edision DD records. As luck would have it, I had to go up north to take the kinds for a weekend with the grandparents, but I did share with another collector I knew to be local. Came back Monday morning, to a phone call from that collector (he can out himself if he likes), that he found several 7inch Victor records, among several other worthwhile finds. I went back and rummaged a little more as he was about to leave, and picked up a few phonograph parts. Went back yet again later, and pulled out another several hundered mostly assorted Victor records of every variety, before I started to get a splitting headache from the dust and mold.

Sad to say, despite pull a few hundered records out of there, I didn't even scratch the surface. Sure, there was a lot of things I had no interest in, but there are still a couple thousand that will be plowed under when they demolish the house tomorrow.

.I'll get around to posting a few pictures of my haul once my head clears.

But it was a good day.

Sometimes a great find can be a blessing and a curse too!

I remember going through a collection like this. It was so bad I left and went to the Walgreens to get a facial mask for allergens.

It was worth it!

Glenn

Hi Zeppy-- That house didn't happen to be in Palmer Park, MD, did it? Many years ago there was a collector there that had thousands and thousands of records and a few phonos. He seldom sold anything (I made a few trades with him, but that was in the early 80's) I still remember his name, but had long since lost contact with him.

Brad Abell
just across the river in VA

The house was in Hyattsville Md. A neighbor mentioned that at one point, there were five phonographs in the house. Long gone by the time I arrived (there was a weathered VV-XI cabinet and a trashed Columbia in a garage this morning...by the time I came back in the afternoon, the XI had been grabbed).

There were literally thousands of records in the house. I could see more rows of record binders in the basement, that were just too difficult to get to, or I could see that there was serious water damage to some of them (also saw some serious spider action in some boxes...had the nightmarish mental image of being bitten by a brown recluse, and dying in that mess, never to been seen again). On top of thousands of 78s, probably an equal number of 33s 45s, and even the odd cassette, 8track, and even reel to reel tape (and a few piano rolls here and there...and did nab a couple of star wars toys from the 1980s as well, and some space themed kids puzzles from the 50s or 60s, and a "Presidential Inauguration 1973 No Parking" sign). It's sad that this time tomorrow, it will all be hauled away in a dumpster, or plowed into the ground.

And even with a dust mask, I still have a sore throat, and head ache several hours after being into that house. Probably in a day or two, when they've had some time to air out (and my head cleared), I'll start going through figuring out which of the record binders need to go, which can be saved, and what exactly I have in terms of music.

Should be fun.

Were there any good DD titles there? I need to go through my own record recollection and start weeding. I have so many records, I could never listen to all of them in a lifetime. I am planning on getting rid of most of my classical 78s, which take up a whole room, and I need that room to put some machines in. The problem is how to get rid of them. They are too nice to throw away and you can't even give them away to most collectors. These are those big albums from the 1930s and 1940s with conductors like Toscanini, Walter, Beecham, Koussevitsky, Rodzinski, Stokowski, Ormandy, Mitropoulous, and composers from Bach to Wagner. The record labels are mostly Victor, Columbia, and Decca. I could donate them to GoodWill, but will they even know what to do with them? The local library will not take them. If I donate to GoodWill, they will probably go straight to the dumpster, but I will at least get a tax write off.

To be honest, I have no clue about the DDs. I glanced at them to check the condition, and they looked pretty damn good (were stored upstairs rather than the basement). Someone else grabbed them, (the babysitter that told me about the house knows them)...unfortunately, the grabbed them with the "I can make something cool out of this" mentality....I'm trying to save them from a rather unfortunate fate...however, I don't own a DD machine, and don't have a whole lot of interest in picking one up....so if I do save them, it would be to unload them to a collector.

Zeppy,

I'm glad to hear that you grabbed more records out of the house after I left, as I was starting to feel bad about all that I left behind.

You describe the place well. The house did belong to a hoarder, although it's hard to say how bad it was before we arrived, as I had the impression that the house had been pretty thoroughly gone over and trashed, with broken records on the steps, etc. The bulk of the remaining better records were in two former bedrooms upstairs, and there's no telling what was taken before we arrived, as the shelves were half empty, and most of the remaining albums were on their sides, not stacked vertically. However, among them, I found three playable 7" Victors, multiple patriotic records, including Enrico Caruso singing "Over There," a Mamie Smith Okeh that I found on the floor, Ethel Waters on Columbia, dozens of John McCormack Victor Red Seal records, and some good Rachmaninoff recordings.

In the basement, there were hundreds of 78s, and many more LPs. The records were on the shelves in water-soaked albums, and also on the floor in pieces Amidst the detritus, I found a Pasquale Amato Fonotipia, dozens of Billy Murray and Collins & Harlan records, and a couple clean 38000-series Victors. I went at it for a couple of hours, but had to give up, as the mold and dust were giving me a headache, and then a coughing fit. I think I went through pretty much everything, though. On the whole, most of the records were pretty common, but certainly there were a few gems in the mix.

Best,

Garret

Zeppy wrote:...and a "Presidential Inauguration 1973 No Parking" sign).

Haha! I actually put my copy in my office this morning.

I'm still feeling the effects of the mold and dust today...a quick overview....there are some Pathé and early Columbias somewhere in the stacks...I just haven't had the time to organize anything...but the very quick highlights of just some of the stacks I pulled out. Haven't found anything particularly rare yet, but I wasn't looking very closely...the goal was get as much that was worth saving as possible (the LPs, 45s, tapes, 8tracks, reel to reel, and piano rolls would have to be saved by someone else). Oh, and there was an old radio that I believe is looking for a home

Zeppy,

Don't mix any of those records with your collection until they are thoroughly scrubbed! Mine are in quarantine until they are washed thoroughly with soap and water. There was certainly something noxious down in that basement.

Garret