The 'unscrupulous' reproduction of cylinders?

[WDC]

I just was pointed out this auction by the eBay dealer gottabemine1 from British Columbia, Canada.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Edison-Blue-Amb ... _cvip=true

He certainly must regard my recently offered reproduction cylinders to be of even higher quality than the originals, otherwise he would not have added this rant to his auction - with caps lock on, of course.

On Nov-16-16 at 13:20:31 PST, seller added the following information:
NOTE: I HAVE ADDED TWO EBAY HANDLES TODAY TO MY " BLOCKED BIDDERS LIST " AS THEY ARE PEOPLE WHO SELL " REPRODUCTION " CYLINDER RECORDS. THIS DEVALUES " ORIGINAL " 85-105 YEAR OLD CYLINDERS AND I WILL " NOT " BE A PART OF SOMETHING I THINK IS UNSCRUPULOUS.I HOPE OTHER SELLERS WILL DO LIKE-WISE. THIS IS ALSO HAPPENING TO RARE SIGNS, TINS,FRUIT CRATE LABELS, LARGE COFFEE GRINDERS & MORE. E BAY SHOULD OPEN A "REPRODUCTIONS ONLY " SITE.

Just to confirm to really be one of the accused, I tried to place a very low bid on one of his items and indeed was blocked. The very first cylinder I ever did was a pure selfish-driven thing: I did not want to play the original acoustically. So, the reproduction actually helped to preserve the original. And just to be clear, no even half-serious collector will ever fall for these as buying an original.

If this fellow is really afraid of not getting top dollars for his original cylinders (retirement provision?), I certainly cannot find any evidence in his recently sold items list. I do not see what drives his hatred.

[TinfoilPhono]

Reproductions can be a problem in many hobbies -- when the copy is difficult to distinguish from an original. That is definitely NOT the case with your cylinders. No one with any experience at all could confuse a plastic cylinder with wax, or a solid blue core cylinder with a Blue Amberol. Not only is there no intent to deceive, there is no risk of confusion.

I absolutely love your cylinders, as well as offerings from Vulcan. They allow me to display and demonstrate records that are excessively rare and expensive, like North American brown wax and 5600 series Blue Amberols. And even for less rare titles I love having authentic-looking and sounding 'brown wax' I can leave on the mandrels of coin-ops, and unbreakable Concert / Grand cylinders I can play without worrying about breakage.

Keep them coming. You are doing a real service to the hobby.

[phonogfp]

Ditto to everything Rene said.

The eBay seller must be ignorant of the differences between century-old records and yours, Norman. I'd be willing to bet that such "reproduction" cylinders - being more durable and made in such small quantities - will at some point exceed the value of comparable century-old records (excluding rare titles/formats of course).

Keep up the good work, Norman!

George P.

[Victrolacollector]

Norman:

I am a fan of your cylinders and will say that without you, Edisonia and Vulcan, I would not be able to listen to the type of music that I enjoy. Most recently, I purchased your copy of "Fire!" by Earl Oliver's Jazz Babies, this is a title that I have always wanted and would otherwise not have been able to find very easily on cylinder.

These reproduction cylinders provide some of the best and rarest titles that would not otherwise be available. I say keep them coming and as long as I can afford them, I will buy them.

You not only provide us with the opportunity to listen to great music, but you also make it more available to use before the originals end up worn out and damaged, and for those that own originals, yours provides an alternative to preserve the original.

All the best,

Jerry P.

[WDC]

Thank you for your inputs, I certainly appreciate it!

[Victrolacollector]

I checked the auction site and it appears that seller "gottabemine1" has some a good title "Aint she Sweet" in the 5000 block.

[JerryVan]

Not sure why he feels threatened that his original cylinders will be devalued, since the new cylinders being offered, by all sources, are priced higher than what originals sell for. That's generally speaking of course, since those cylinders worthy of reproduction are some of the more scarce examples. (BTW, not complaining about new cylinder prices here.)

Also, interesting that his only concern seems to be strictly financial in nature. How very altruistic of him. A real historian.

[JerryVan]

Also, anyone who really wants the "real thing" won't buy a reproduction anyway, and conversely, anyone who would buy a reproduction, probably wouldn't spring for an expensive original.

[billybob62]

Norman's cylinders will still play on the antique fixable machines 100 years from now but the old ones may crumble in that period. Then the new ones will be collectable.

[Victrolacollector]

Norman's cylinders will still play on the antique fixable machines 100 years from now but the old ones may crumble in that period. Then the new ones will be collectable.

That is so true. Today, a Blue Amberol of mine (luckily was not a popular title) rolled off the table onto the hardwood floor. The record actually split. So yes, Normans will hold up a long time. I was just excited to get my copy of Some of these Days by Sophie Tucker. Just think where would you find a nice clean playable copy for $80.00? If you could find a nice clean playable 4 minute Amberol it could shatter into pieces. I am so happy that Norman issued Sophie Tucker on cylinder, maybe we will see more Sophie releases in the future???

I put my copy on the mandrel and sit back and just enjoy Sophie as she sounded over 100 years.