The Talking Machine Forum — For All Antique Phonographs & Recordings

A guy here in Knoxville has 180 Edison discs for sale.

What would you guys expect to pay for 180 of them? I’m just curious, I know a record is not worth what’s on it

You're going to get varied opinions for varied reasons. Is this "blind" or can you go through it? Can you pick and choose or do you have to take the whole lot? Are the discs in good playable condition? Are there any clean title sleeves?

It's very rare that I would pay even $1 per disc for "must take all" lots because inevitably there are poor condition discs and other "common" discs I will have to pass along - if I can. Now, if you offered me a huge pile of electrics, that's another story, but it's also extremely unlikely.

"...I know a record is not worth what’s on it"


If I understand "what's on it" to mean what music & artist is on it, then I'd have to disagree. A random 180 diamond discs, to me, might be worth $90 max, maybe even $40. But, if they're later issue, with some good jazz tunes, in great shape, then perhaps far more. If you lived closer to me, I would give a stack of random D.D.'s for free.

Right well he wants $360 (which I will not be paying ). He is selling a lot stuff, like 10 crates of records, some machines and these Edison discs. I really just want the discs. (Also he wants $5000 for everything, so I hve little hope to get these records cause I doubt he’ll budge on the price)

I am going to ask if I can pick through them, I don’t really want more duplicates

Picking through them is a good option.

And paying individually at what price?

dzavracky wrote:And paying individually at what price?

Again- depends what is on the record... some good DDs can go for hundreds of dollars for a nice copy. Pay what you are comfortable with.

Serious record collecting ain't cheap. There are $1 Goodwill finds (and sometimes you can get super lucky there) but most of the really good stuff is in the hands of galoots like me. If you want to build a nice collection get used to it.

30, 40, 50 years ago great records were still being donated to thrifts by the survivors of their original owners who didn't care. Collectors like me gobbled them up. Then eBay came along and changed everything. For awhile I was buying collections and then floating a few records from those collections on eBay to cover the costs of buying the collection. The best example I can think of of a collecting market that has really taken off lately is Depression era classical sets, esp. scroll Victors and Royal Blue Columbias. I have collected these for decades buying up collections for a song but in about the last five years competition for these has gotten super fierce.

Apparently, he has decided the DDs are worth $2 each, since he has 180 for $360... Unless you are well versed as to which DDs are "good", "desirable" or "valuable" don't pay more than $2 each for the ones you can cherry pick. Generally, the white label, later DDs are more likely to contain desirable content - sometimes the ones marked with a red star on the label (which was supposed to indicate potential poor selling titles) are some of the best, but not an absolute... Usually, artists/orchestras like B.A. Rolfe, The Georgia Melodians, Josie Miles, Fletcher Henderson, Red & Miff's Stompers, the Five Harmaniacs, Viola McCoy, Chas. Matson's Creole Serenaders are very good choices, but hard to find...

DDs that are valuable are not easily found in the wild (not to say there aren't some in that pile) and good "sounding" titles don't always mean "good" music, unless you know which titles, done by what artists are in the desirable category... For the most part (I said "most"- not all), DDs have not so wonderful music played by not so wonderful artists, because Thomas Edison chose most of them, which was a marketing mistake. Until 1924 or so, Tom micro-managed and personally decided what was issued, approving or rejecting takes. He preferred simple melodies and basic harmonies (The Old Oaken Bucket, etc.), disliking jazz, dissonance and loud accompaniment. You might want to search YouTube for specific titles and play them on your phone, while you are looking through them, to see if you like them before buying... Good luck.

He rejected my offer of $100 for all of them. He said “no problem . i will pass some edisons sell for a lot just have no desire to research them.”

That kinda says a lot about him Considering the virus, id rather not spend time in his garage/ house picking though records. I’d feel better doing that at my house haha. I REALLY doubt he’s gonna sell them, so I’ll just wait.
I told him that when he doesn’t sell the whole lot for $360 he should consider my offer

Anyways thanks for the help guys. I’ve really enjoyed listening through all my DD’s since I rebuilt the machine and I love the way they sound. And yeah I know Edison picked all the songs, which I agree was a huge mistake. I love the white paper label ones, so if I do end up picking through them I’ll look carefully at all the white label ones.

Also I’ve been wondering. Who’s idea was the etched label? I freaking hate that lol. It’s so hard to read


David

"Also I’ve been wondering. Who’s idea was the etched label? I freaking hate that lol. It’s so hard to read"

Yeah, and you are in your 20s... Wait 50 years and then try to read them...