The Talking Machine Forum — For All Antique Phonographs & Recordings

Thank you very much indeed for your kind reply. I'm sorry you were unable to bid for the 130, but pleased I was able to acquire it. I will certainly keep you in mind if ever I decide to sell. I think there's another 130 on eBay, but it's a later variation with Garrard unit plate and rounded case -- a version that wasn't known to exist until recently.

Here it is, but the seller is not offering postage, a sure way NOT to get the best price! Why do they do this when a portable is easy to pack and post?

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Vintage-Decc ... 1438.l2649

It is a cool design though. I wouldn't mind owning one.

Andreas

I even suggested to the seller that he might get more bids and a better price if he offered postage, but he was still reluctant to do so, citing risk of damage in transit. That probably explains why, with just over a day to go, the machine only has two bids and is languishing on GBP£31.

I have bought and sold quite a few portables by post and have never had one damaged. It all depends on how well they are packed, but some people will not be told.

This rare portable sold for only GBP£46. What might it have made if the seller had offered postage?

Three times as much, minimum.

Lucky the British who could have it at this ridicolous price!

I doubt very much that gramophone would have fetched "three times the price" had postage been offered. A couple of years ago I purchased the very same version of the '130' off Ebay for a similar (maybe a little more expensive) price in better condition. The seller wasn't offering postage either which I know from a personal conversation many months later with a collector over here, had prevented at least that person and one other from bidding on it! Unbeknown to them perhaps I contacted the seller and convinced them to post it to me. Even though they agreed to do this prior to the auction finishing they failed to change the listing to reflect that option!! Maybe I was the sole bidder who didn't think he had to trek half way across the country to collect a portable? At the end of the day there are probably only half a dozen people in the world who know or care enough about these to purchase a slightly different variant of an otherwise commonly available portable gramophone.