The Talking Machine Forum — For All Antique Phonographs & Recordings

Is it just me, or does $291 for three unidentified, unplayed brown wax cylinders (with no cases) that look pretty clean seem like a lot?

https://www.ebay.com/itm/vtg-Lot-3-Anti ... 4053078752

Maybe it's that off-white one in the middle? What am I missing here?

One might be the lost Buddy Bolden cylinder.

I can't comment on the cylinders themselves, but it appears to have been a bidding war among three people after the price passed $111. I've noticed there seem to be quite a few outrageous prices being paid for some records on eBay. Perhaps since people aren't going out much or spending money on those external activities, they are funneling that into eBay bids and similar auctions. I won nothing from Nauck's in the spring, which was a bit surprising.

On a possibly related note from my local newspaper, many pawn shops are cleaned out and are importing inventory from elsewhere. Apparently there are more buying than pawning as of late.

I was recently told, to my surprise, that brown wax cylinders in good playable condition with no mold were routinely bringing $100-150 each and most don't sound that great... I'm still surprised, since with my luck I would buy one, store it in a record cabinet and the next time I looked at it mold would be all over it. Or, when I went to play it, just putting it on a mandrel would shatter it... Or it would just roll out of the cabinet when I opened it and hit the floor shattering it (not shattering the floor )... That's why I only buy 2/4 minute Indestructibles or blue Amberols...

Curt A wrote:I was recently told, to my surprise, that brown wax cylinders in good playable condition with no mold were routinely bringing $100-150 each and most don't sound that great...

Well, after all, Edison long play discs, which are all inferior-sounding dubs of relatively common standard diamond discs, routinely bring well north of $100 each, and the royal purple amberols, after the first five or so also dubs from diamond discs, also go for sums pushing $100. Not long back I saw one of the 12" long plays go for more than $400 on eBay (not to me!). The market will bear what the market will bear.

One of them is a long lost Mark Twain recording worth thousands!

Not that this auction was particular interesting, but I have found some very interesting records by taking a chance, such as a neat 1894 recording of the Manhansett Quartette or an 1895 recording by Baldwin's Cadet Band of Boston. The latter took me three months of research and repeated listening to be identified. And what a great moment that was!

But I understand that it's a special subject not many collectors are willing to put the necessary effort into to gaining the required knowledge for appreciation.

With proper storage, wax cylinders will likely have fewer problems in the long run than celluloid cylinders, aka Blue Amberols and so-called "Indestructibles", which - split by split, will eventually turn into "Self-Destructibles".

There weren't that many records made in the 1890s to begin with, and both from fragility of materials and just having been around longer (from being thrown away as outdated music or obsolete technology as they were replaced), the age and scarcity of them is enough to be valuable.

Compare the prices of Berliner discs with known and undesirable content... then consider that for every cylinder that was a boring hymn or sappy sentimental song, there's also the possibility that discs don't offer, that it was re-recorded with a one-of-a-kind home recording from 110-130 years ago!

Probably the misunderstanding, that a white or cream colored cylinder must very early. These all seem to be Columbia cylinders. The color was just a batch that was not cooked as much as the others. Many books though have photos of the 1888 cylinders which are a cream color, however are usually thinner than the later metallic soap cylinders, and smooth bore, with not spiral or ribs. These all have wide spirals, which indicate Columbia.