The Talking Machine Forum — For All Antique Phonographs & Recordings

I have the opportunity to get into a house that has hundreds and hundreds of DD. Can you all tell me what numbers are the most desirable so I know what to look for?
Thanks in advance!!

That is cool!!! Congrats! I am not the man to respond on which ones to get, I just look for certain records I like, no idea on value.

Good luck!

T

Long plays (gold label), electrics (52089-52651), hot acoustic jazz - Charleston, Black Bottom, Varsity Drag, the Red and Miff sides, Ellen Coleman blues, etc.

I disagree. Get the etched label DDs from about 1917-1920, and save the junk electrics from the late 20s for me.

marcapra wrote:I disagree. Get the etched label DDs from about 1917-1920, and save the junk electrics from the late 20s for me.

Don't be so hard on yourself: I'll take some of those off your hands.

Bill

Not all electrics are in the 52xxx series. Others:

80xxx series, 80885 and above
82xxx series, 82351 and above
German series, 57025 and above
Cuban/Spanish series, 60063 and above

Look in particular for the few "multi-disc sets"--the Dvorak "American" Quartet, the Schumann Piano Quintet, Schubert's First Piano Trio, Haydn Quartet op. 33 no. 3. Look for late instrumental soloists (e.g., Carl Flesch, who made acoustics too, and E. Robert Schmitz) and very late instrumental soloists, esp. Moritz Rosenthal. Rosenthal on DD will make the gold label long plays look cheap. 80888 is the sole electric recording on any label of Frieda Hempel.

Among acoustics, look for "name" artists like, again, Carl Flesch, Albert Spalding, Jacques Urlus, Claudia Muzio, Elisabeth Schumann, and the like. Sergei Rachmaninoff's two-disc acoustic set (3 ss. plus filler) of the Liszt 2d Hungarian Rhapsody is notable because he interpolates a wild cadenza of his own concoction that he never recorded otherwise.

Sounds like great fun. Good luck!

If there are hundreds of discs that sounds like a lot of fun.

Don't forget to just enjoy picking Discs that suit your fancy!

Also, etched DD's can have jazz. I sold a copy of Gra-Na-Da Fox Trot by Harry Raderman's Jazz Orch. last weekend for three dollars on etched label, I think from 1921.

Also be on the look out for 78rpm needle-cut Edisons, which can be worth more than the DDs. Especially the 12" gold labels.

marcapra wrote:Also be on the look out for 78rpm needle-cut Edisons, which can be worth more than the DDs. Especially the 12" gold labels.

I agree. I’m still kicking myself for not buying a couple really cheap when I had the opportunity. *sigh* If only I knew then what I know now...

My collection - non-Edison - consists of records I want to play, by artists I find interesting. I've got some pretty valuable records, but all of them are of value to me because they are ones I want to play. Value, I think, is is the ear of the listener.