The Talking Machine Forum — For All Antique Phonographs & Recordings

Folks, just a heads up on this.....

The machine is located about 8 miles from my house. When I asked seller if I could view the machine, I received this response:

"Hi Steve,
Thank you for your continued interest in our auctions. It is not convenient for you to come by the house. We are willing to meet you somewhere, should you win the auction. Have a great day!
Sincerely,
Cindy"

It just seems strange that they don't want anyone to look at it. Maybe they are in fear of being robbed so they don't want anyone to know where they live.

Ebay Auction: 300361681113

Steve

I'd be strongly suspicions of a fraud or of stolen merchandise. I have no proof but this is a dealer in general merchandise offering an Edison Ideal, an Edison Concert, a Victor VI with wood horn, a high end Columbia cylinder machine, and some other phonograph items. You might expect one of those items to find it's way into a general auction, but FOUR? I can't believe that a collector who'd own these machines would just put them up on Ebay with a load of junk.

Looks like they have sold on ebay for awhile, maybe its just a odd mix of lots.

I looked at these listings also and the Concert machine seems to be a regular Edison Triumph. I sent a message to the seller explaining that a Concert machine would be designed to play cylinders 5 inches in diameter and have not received a reply. Seems a bit suspicious to say the least.

I sent similar emails less than an hour after the Ideal and the Triumph were listed explaining that "Concert" was a poor choice of words in describing these machines. I have also received no reply.

I might have been hasty in saying Fraud, but there's something really unusual going on here.

Think about how many questions they are getting about such a rare machine as the Idealia! But it would be wise to proceed with caution regardless.

At least I could not find any evidence for identity theft on these auctions. Even the pictures on their auctions are self-hosted by the same domain name as their ebay name and shop pseudo. A quick whois look-up shows me a reasonable address and owner's name.

Although I have to agree that the number of rare machines is at least very strange. The Idelia is rare enough, but don't forget the Wizard: 370282593495

Maybe some old-school reclusive collector died and his widow is trying to sell off the stuff.

Not sure WHO won, but at $15,268.88 they have deeper pockets than mine ever were. Eventually word will leak out as to who got this Edison, it would be interesting to hear more about this one someday.