The Talking Machine Forum — For All Antique Phonographs & Recordings

For those who might be interested, I just listed a Rigid Arm Victor R on my TechnoGallerie website. Very nice and original. No restoration, no replica parts. Runs well.

Here's the link: https://www.technogallerie.com/product- ... -machines/

Other neat stuff to see there too.

-- Grant

Prices are kinda insane! Or is it just me who’ll say it?

Machines like that are very hard to come by & that is in exceptional condition; it seems right to price it higher than a regular R.

columbia1spring wrote: Sun Feb 14, 2021 6:09 pm Prices are kinda insane! Or is it just me who’ll say it?

Interesting comment. Grant is a well-known and respected seller with top-notch stuff. He is offering a rare item in top condition. If it is priced too high for your budget, why do you find it necessary to demean him?

Raphael

Look at how many items on his website are marked sold. If the prices were so insane the items wouldn't be selling, eh?

Member columbia1spring may not be trying to demean Mr Grant personally--it's just that when you can pick up an R for $800 to $1100 at a swap meet, the rigid-arm version may seem rather expensive if the scarcity of that part isn't fully comprehended.

I personally think a Berliner at $3500 would be far too high for me to purchase at this time but that's OK; I'm playing with 1900s-1930s stuff on a college budget and so that Berliner falls in the scope of a wealthy collector's pursuits for pre-1900 collecting. The phonograph hobby is really wonderful in that you can pursue it for as little or as much as you would like to spend. I'm thrilled to have found an Edison Home B project for $125, a Panatrope for $40, and a Victor Radio Electrola RE-45 for $100. But for someone else, $100 would buy some nice ephemera, or $40 would buy a great old 78 that they already have duplicates of.

There's really one for everyone in this hobby. For the budget-minded collector looking for a small early rear-mount machine there are always Victor I's and 0's.

I’m not trying to insult or demean anyone. It’s an opinion.
I’ve personally bought over. 15 phonographs on this forum, sellers know who I am.
There are to many sellers who want parts on here for almost nothing$ and when they resell they feel it’s
Ok to clobber buyers with ridicules prices.
I’ve been collecting my whole life, been to a ton of shows and I’m aware of prices.
That royal is insanely priced, we all know it, I’m the only one who’ll say it..!!

I have been watching rigid arm R's for quite a while and have owned 3. His price for a pristine Rigid arm is correct!!!!

Personally, I don't think that Grant is targeting potential buyers from this forum. He has a unique clientele that doesn't think twice about prices. They are not eBay or flea market buyers looking for bargains, they buy from him because they trust the quality of his items, his descriptions and his bullet proof packing/shipping. They don't want to have to worry about receiving something that is not as described or remnants of items destroyed by incompetent shipping methods...

Basically, don't look at his website for bargains, but for exceptionally good quality examples of some of the hardest to find machines and other items.
Like everything else, condition is everything and is you can't afford the best, look on eBay or Facebook...

The price is not bad considering the one that just sold at Stanton's auction had a hammer price of $6,000. Then you add the buyer's premium(penalty).
This is a very rare Victor and I am not surprised at the price. Especially being such a clean example.