The Talking Machine Forum — For All Antique Phonographs & Recordings

Who else has a machine they really regret getting rid of?

A number of years ago through great fortune and EXTREME generosity on other peoples part I aquired this combination, being a HMV model 31 with an EMG mk9 horn, then a few years ago I sold it in a moment of weakness and being pressured into it by my mother who thought such a horn to be unsightly, who mocked it and didn't really want it around, wish I'd stood my ground, I would really like an EMG now but I'd give almost anything for this one back.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OsXD--v6WmE&t=33s

Anyone else got such a story?

I think I agree with your mother. Those machines never appealed to me, but of course, you can collect what you like. I have not sold many things, and I do not regret selling anything.
Dave D

Dave D wrote:I think I agree with your mother. Those machines never appealed to me, but of course, you can collect what you like. I have not sold many things, and I do not regret selling anything.
Dave D

Goes to show about different tastes, I love them, I think they look fascinating, and the sound is something else

Yes I regret selling my Columbia Home Grand Graphophone. This was the later version with the six spring motor. I probably won’t find another one.

Rich Gordon

Hello Alex,
Great to see you back again. I've never regretted buying any gramophone, but I really regret selling one. It is a HMV 163 that had only one owner from new. It was in wonderful condition and had the very best HMV 5 soundbox that I own - and I have a few. It had two letters with it - one was related to its original sale and the other was from HMV in the 1960s. I had put two new springs in the motor and it worked absolutely perfectly. The wood was the most beautiful I've seen on an Oak HMV.
I sold it to finance another gramophone. I deeply regret selling it and would immediately buy it back given any chance. However I understand the present owner is enjoying it - fair play to him!

Speaking of mothers - my own mother threw out all my 78s when I was around eight or nine years old, and there were a lot of them. That was not far off fifty years ago, but I still remember!
However before I'm accused of being misogynistic, I have to say that mothers have a lot of very good points too!

Back when I was a pretty new collector (high school kid), I wheedled my parents into helping me buy a Brunswick phonograph, what I now know to be the Seville model. The cabinet was actually green from all the coats of varnish or shellac or something that had been slapped on it over the years. I stripped it down and was astonished to find lovely walnut underneath, with burl inlay on the doors. Alas, living in a town that hardly was a major metropolis in those pre-Internet days, with sources of information restricted to a copy of Tinfoil to Stereo and one of The Fabulous Phonograph, plus the irregularly delivered issues of the optimistically named Antique Phonograph Monthly, I knew nothing of such matters as the need to rebuild reproducers or what records were and were not appropriate for a machine of that vintage (in other words, that it was designed for early electrics, whereas most of my collection was acoustic pop)--and, frankly, it sounded more than a little ugly. And so I put it up for sale in the classifieds and sold it to a couple who I'm pretty sure planned to gut it and turn it into a bar.

Every time I look back on that incident, I feel a pang of remorse that I failed that machine.

Hi Kirtley! Who says there aren't any young people in this hobby. I can see why you regret selling that machine. They are rare and coveted in the U.S. After all, didn't Professor Henry Higgins have one or several of them when he said "The rain in Spain falls mainly on the plain."?

I regret selling a mint Edison P-1 Portable, it had the gold reproducer with no cracks in it. The velvet on the turntable was mint.
I sold it for approx. 450.00 and probably never find another.

I regret selling my Victor Model E rear mount and my Columbia green outside horn Europa.

I'm only posting this because most people love a happy ending - I stepped up to the plate when Alex was selling the HMV/EMG combo in 2014, but whilst it's a lovely thing and a great player I don't exactly need it, so we've agreed that Alex can have it back for what it cost me.