The Talking Machine Forum — For All Antique Phonographs & Recordings

I just went through my large collection of classical 78s in albums. Most of them are from the 30s and 40s, but some are from the 1920s. For ex., I have a Columbia album from 1924 of Dvorak's Symphony No. 5 "From the New World" in excellent shape. I read that Columbia Masterworks invented the album format for complete classical works, instead of the short excerpts that had been recorded before that. I also have several Victor Red Seal albums on Orthophonic Scroll records in albums from the late 20s. I also have some fairly rare recordings such as a thick album from the Sibelius Society and an early 1935 album of Bruckner's 7th symphony on 8 records on Victor scroll. It would be a lot of work to take pics of all these and make individual ads. I'm just feeling the water to see if there is any collector interest. My prices are reasonable. Marc.

In my experience (and not only in mine...) classical repertoire records are the hardest to sell. Well, perhaps no: whistled tunes are even harder, but that says it all I'm afraid.

In my opinon, you would perhaps sell *something* only if you supplement your ads with nice photos and an extensive description of the contents of the records, of course including age and condition, and possibly data about directors/musicians. It will take time and a lot of patience for a possible buyer to come across.

There is a series of articles written by Tim Gracky which dig this matter very well and also in a very reasonable way in my opinion, I think you might find them useful:

http://www.gracyk.com/opera.shtml

Well, I am always interested in ones I don't have. That "New World" set, for example is one I don't have. Interest certainly seems to be low on a great deal of the stuff, I gave away a bunch of really nice clean sets last Summer just to make some room because I couldn't get any interest even at token prices.

Sean

Even the most dedicated collector would have to admit that the 78rpm format is unsuited to long orchestral works, so many of these album sets which were expensive when new are almost unsaleable today. The exceptions are composers performing and/or conducting their own works, and some of the very early classical sets.

It was Europe, not the USA, which pioneered the classical album set. According to Roland Gelatt in "The Fabulous Phonograph" the first large scale orchestral recording was the Nutcracker Suite issued by the British branch of Odeon in 1909. It comprised four double sided discs in a special album, and was soon followed by another such album, this time of Mendelssohn's incidental music to A Midsummer Night's Dream.

Complete operas were recorded in Europe even earlier, with the German branch of The Gramophone Company releasing Die Fledermaus in 1907 and both Faust and Carmen in 1908. If only Victor had done something similar with the vocal resources at their disposal.

Look on ebay to see what sells - every once in a while, a classical album will go for hundreds, although rarely symphonic, more often an instrumental solo.

http://www.ebay.com/sch/Records/176985/ ... cal&_sop=3

I would agree that there is generally little interest in symphonic album sets from the 40s for sure - as well as an excessive supply in good to unplayed conditions thanks to their tendency to sit on a shelf as status symbols...

The only ones I'm holding onto are earlier (20s/30s) sets (just in case), and then-contemporary composers, especially Rachmaninoff and Stravinsky who recorded their own compositions.

Otherwise, though, opera remains far more collectible and valuable.

Early opera sets go back a bit farther, like the 1908 Carmen with Emmy Destinn.

As far as classical album sets, generally, you need to have something unique, a premier recording, or recordings of rare works, soloists or conductors that rarely recorded, etc. Then find the person who is interested in such things. I suspect that they are a dwindling lot.

Were these early classical sets in Europe put out in their own unique albums? Or just sleeves or a generic album? I think what I meant was that Columbia was the first to put out complete classical works in their own albums. I do have some albums with Rachmaninoff playing piano, and Glazunov conducting The Seasons ballet, and Stravinsky conducting The Fire Bird and Paderewski playing his piano concerto. I think the original Orthophonic Victor albums might be collectible as even the albums are nice to look at. I know with Edison records sometimes the classical records sell higher than the popular. At the APS dinner two years ago, I saw the Haydn string quartet sell for $575 on two 12" Edison needle cuts, but they were truly beautiful records, not to mention rare!

I think that last one has more to do with the rarity of the Edison needle-cut in general, than the presence of the Haydn string quartet on it, no?

bfinan11 wrote:I think that last one has more to do with the rarity of the Edison needle-cut in general, than the presence of the Haydn string quartet on it, no?

Edison 10" needle cuts are pretty hard to find, but the 12" discs are like hen's teeth. I'm not at all shocked by the $575 price, especially since the seller had both discs.

52089 wrote:

bfinan11 wrote:I think that last one has more to do with the rarity of the Edison needle-cut in general, than the presence of the Haydn string quartet on it, no?

Edison 10" needle cuts are pretty hard to find, but the 12" discs are like hen's teeth. I'm not at all shocked by the $575 price, especially since the seller had both discs.

I figured as much, having 13000 records myself, and passing up at least as many, without ever having seen even one Edison needle cut!