The Talking Machine Forum — For All Antique Phonographs & Recordings

I have been eyeballing this Edison C-250 for awhile now and I really want to get it but its a 4 ½ hour drive one way. https://louisville.craigslist.org/atq/d ... 72790.html

By any chance, are there any collectors coming from the Louisville area to Tennessee anytime soon? Maybe we can work out something?

Thanks guys,

David

Considering the cost of haulage would it be cheaper to find a similar machine closer to home? I haven't tried to price out a C-250 any time recently and I know they're pretty hard to find but stil--

Looks like it needs a new veneer top & probably a proper Diamond Disc reproducer in gold; I like the adaptor (though it's in the wrong position for lateral) but still, it just won't do for you to not have the original reproducer as well. There's also trim damage...

It's a lot of phonograph for $50, though, that's for sure.

Yeah that’s true.

It would be a good project for me though

$50 for a Chippendale in oak, in working condition, doesn't seem too bad to me. The veneer issues could be dealt with pretty cheaply, I think...

For what it's worth, I was able to fit my C-250 (minus casters) in the back seat of a Toyota Corolla.

- Bill

Wow really? It would definitely fit in my 4Runner, but 4.5 hours one way seems to be not worth it?

How long have some of you guys driven for a machine?

I drove my '96 Corolla to Florida & back for an Edison Standard E blue horn once. The machine I already had, and I just wanted a nice horn for it...the blue ones with flowers are not so easy to find.

So that was about 300 miles one way, for a $125 horn. But you must have one to complete that kind of phonograph, and they're not making any more of them, so one does what one must.

dzavracky wrote:Wow really? It would definitely fit in my 4Runner, but 4.5 hours one way seems to be not worth it?

How long have some of you guys driven for a machine?

I twice drove a couple of hours into Delaware to collect an open horn "Swissie" that I'd won on eBay--twice, because I missed connections with the seller the first time. That said, I'm not sure I'd take on a beat-up C-250 at a distance if I were you. Yes, it's in oak, which seems to be desirable at the moment, and yes, the price is next to nothing, but if you look at eBay you'll see lots of C-250s (admittedly, mostly in the currently unfashionable mahogany) sitting there drawing little interest. Of the "big" Edison machines, that was the hottest seller, and there are lots of them around. Once you have it, shedding it when a nicer one comes along (or you find a more "desirable" machine and need the space) may not be so easy. Don't you already have a nice B-250? That's a considerably less common, more "desirable" machine, and it has the same mechanism/horn as the C-250 unless I'm much mistaken. Under those circumstances, I'd be inclined to let the fixer upper go.

And, oh, by the way, now that I have a speartip oak horn Victor V, that "Swissie" is now pretty much an "extra," but it's still sitting there consuming space....

Yeah I do have a B-250. Well hopefully someone else can go get it

Thanks for the feedback