The Talking Machine Forum — For All Antique Phonographs & Recordings

So today, while antiquing, I came across a neat little secondhand shop. There were a lot of LPs and 45s, but no 78s. I was asking a man who worked there if there was any place in town that sold them. While I was talking to him, the owner of the shop came in, and told me she had tons in the back storage room.

SHE WAS NOT KIDDING!

It was really only one wall, but the shelves were quite deep! There are probably 800-1000 records there, and I took home about 450-475.

For Free!

Please don't question the legitimacy of this statement, she literally gave them to me for nothing at all!! A little more than half of what I brought home today I'm going to donate to my local secondhand shop, but I counted, and I have 212 new records to add to my collection! Those include:

-3 Harry Lauder 12 inch purple-label Victor 12 inch discs

-30 12 Inch Single sided Victor Records dating from early 1904 to 1908, two of which are marked "DELUXE RECORD"

-Probably 15 or so double sided discs in the 16000 and 17000 series (Though they didn't sport the batwing design - not sure if there's a name for the kind I have?

- Probably 10 or 15 10 and 12" Single and Double sided John McCormack red seal records

- about 80-100 miscellaneous popular discs from Victor (Batwing and Scroll Label)

And the best part is that they're all in great condition! The 1904 records play without a skip on my modern turntable, and their sound is loud and clear!

I don't think I'm able to post pictures with the technology I own, but I'll try!

EDIT: I should also note that I'm going back either tomorrow or next week to pick them up.

It's always fun getting a load of free 78s, of course even better when you actually LIKE most of them! Half the fun for me when I acquire large collections is discovering things that I've never seen or heard before. I'm in the process now of going through a haul of about 15,000 discs, it's great fun.

Congrats!

Sean

This seems to be happening more and more as the 78 era gets farther away. I've never had the luck to stumble into that many free records, but I found and bought two lots on craigslist in the last month, $35 for about 900 78s (and four boxes of LPs that I had to leave behind) in central PA, and $20 for about a thousand 78s here in Rochester. Both lots had plenty of postwar junk, but also went back as far as 1902 (a stack of single sided Pryor's Band records), and as late as 1959 (blues and early rock and roll), so you never know what you'll find...

I'll be looking through my friend Arthur Pare's storeroom in Johnson City,NY in a couple weeks.He said that any record you want,you can have.He's acquired a treasure trove over the years.Several I remember putting on cassette tape years ago.For example,I taped "Copenhagen"by Al Turk's Princess Orchestra.If I find it that'll be a grab!edisonplayer

Hey everyone, just a little update! I went and picked up the last hundred records today, and I found about the same kind of things, all still really neat. I did, however find the Lucia Sextette Record! It's number 96200, and it notes that it should be played at 82 RPMS.

And I am not located in New York, edisonplayer, but thanks for the kind offer!

Thank you all for your replies!

^ There are three versions of that Sextette with Caruso. Yours should play properly at 79.13 RPM according to my Caruso discography. Speeds listed on acoustical era records (and even beyond) are often arbitrary / incorrect.

Wolfe wrote:^ There are three versions of that Sextette with Caruso. Yours should play properly at 79.13 RPM according to my Caruso discography. Speeds listed on acoustical era records (and even beyond) are often arbitrary / incorrect.

Ah, thanks. I thought there was something funny about that speed.

Victor A wrote:
-Probably 15 or so double sided discs in the 16000 and 17000 series (Though they didn't sport the batwing design - not sure if there's a name for the kind I have?

I believe that the designation would be the "Patent Label," and if I'm not mistaken they replaced what's known as the "Exposition label" (circa 1904-08?) the highest numbered of which former label I've seen is Victor 17459. I very much prefer those to the later Batwings.

Congratulations upon that experience. That would be a dream come true!

A couple weeks ago I was given over 100 78's and yesterday someone else offed me a bunch more. They were described to me as "five moving boxes full". It's always fun going through a batch of records like that to see what you've got and it always more fun when the records are free!