The Talking Machine Forum — For All Antique Phonographs & Recordings

A woman, Christina, contacted the APS yesterday in hopes of giving away a decent Victrola XI and records. It turns out she must have it gone this weekend (March 19/20/21), and is desperate to find a new owner for it - otherwise it goes into a dumpster.

She posted it on the APS Forum last night offering it (and added a price in forlorn hope), but time is of the essence, so I'm posting it here for her as well.

If you want a decent Victrola XI with records or know someone who might like one, her pictures and contact information are here:

https://forum.antiquephono.org/classifi ... 913-vv-xi/

Best of luck!

George P.

Just to give the story closure, I live in the same immediate area, so I sent the lady an e-mail yesterday evening, and at about noon today she responded and asked me if I could come after 7 this evening to pick it up. She admonished me to reply ASAP. Within 10 minutes or so I wrote back that I could, but then I heard nothing from her until she wrote 50 minutes ago to say somebody else, who (she said, at least) had contacted her first, had taken it and paid her; I had made it clear that I was happy to give it a safe home if she could find no other taker but wasn't really in the market to invest $$ in it. So the good news is that it has a home, one hopes not with someone who is looking for a nice liquor storage cabinet. The other probably good news is that I'm not now looking for a place to put a Victrola that I really didn't particularly need. The bad news is that I hung around the house all night for nothing when I could profitably have gone to get the weekly grocery shopping done; now I'll need to shoe-horn it into a busy day tomorrow. I certainly have no room to complain, since I was not offering money and did say I was taking the position of "last resort," but still, 'twould have been nice if she'd told me she already had a buyer on the string, or at least told me earlier, before the night was mostly gone....

But then, since I was cooling my heels at home, I took advantage of the time to listen to some records I'd never gotten around to playing, a pleasure that set me back no $$ and cost me no space in the house, so in the end I guess it's "all's well that ends well" after all.

I'm glad the story had a good ending - even if it didn't work out ideally for you, drh. You get good karma for trying.

The woman who had this Victrola, Christina, never mentioned that she wanted anything for the Victrola in her initial and followup emails to the APS. It was "free." It was only when she posted it that the $125 price appeared - - and that along with "possibly free." For some reason, she had to dispose of the Victrola within three days, and asked interested parties to email her, but she didn't include her email address. (I added that on her listing thread.) Several red flags went up - at least for me. I've gotten to the point in my personal life where I try to avoid dealing with people who exhibit squirrelly behavior.

...But that can't apply to the hundreds of emails I answer every year on behalf of the APS answering people's questions, directing them to goods and services, and sometimes even trying to help them decide "should I keep this or sell this?" The nice part is that the APS gets about a dozen nice responses every year expressing thanks or just following up on what they decided to do. There are some nice people out there. But the other 95% never bother to respond one way or another. Oh well...it's bread upon the water.

Any bets on whether we will hear from Christina again?

George P.

phonogfp wrote: Sat Mar 20, 2021 11:52 pm ... Oh well...it's bread upon the water.

Any bets on whether we will hear from Christina again?

George P.

And you know the old saying: "Cast thy bread upon the water, and it gets mighty soggy, or eaten by ducks."

I'd guess your best likelihood of hearing from Mme. C. again is if she decides she needs help to get rid of something else.

drh wrote: Sun Mar 21, 2021 1:43 am

phonogfp wrote: Sat Mar 20, 2021 11:52 pm ... Oh well...it's bread upon the water.

Any bets on whether we will hear from Christina again?

George P.

And you know the old saying: "Cast thy bread upon the water, and it gets mighty soggy, or eaten by ducks."

I'd guess your best likelihood of hearing from Mme. C. again is if she decides she needs help to get rid of something else.

She got what she wanted and will move on. That's how it seems to go today. When selling on eBay, I usually refund excess shipping charges. Sometimes as much as $8 or $9. To date, nobody has ever thanked me. I don't bother anymore. Why should I make the investment in getting snubbed by thankless people?

JerryVan wrote: Sun Mar 21, 2021 8:37 am She got what she wanted and will move on. That's how it seems to go today.

It certainly seems to be the norm online. But thank goodness for the exceptions!

"Courtesy is a silver lining around the dark clouds of civilization; it is the best part of refinement and in many ways, an art of heroic beauty in the vast gallery of man's cruelty and baseness."

Bryant H. McGill

I am starting to notice a trend with sellers stating that a phonograph or other "antique" is free.... I inquired about an antique a year or so ago that was initially offered free. Email responses were extremely delayed - a common issue with these types of proposals. Also, I found out later the "antique" I was inquiring about was listed on internet "sale pages" for a few hundred dollars. But, that they were "open to offers." This was after the seller and I began corresponding.

It was an awkward situation.

Also, like this situation with the Victrola, the seller was operating on a strict deadline ("moving"). I stepped up, made a fair market value offer, met their deadline and then all communication ceased.

I have been in the customer service business my whole life. But, as I have said on other threads... things are getting stranger by the week these days...

phonogfp wrote: Sun Mar 21, 2021 10:31 am

JerryVan wrote: Sun Mar 21, 2021 8:37 am She got what she wanted and will move on. That's how it seems to go today.

It certainly seems to be the norm online. But thank goodness for the exceptions!

Yes, you are correct about the exceptions.

I hope it found a good home. I live in the DC area, but didn't have an interest- I sent the info to a couple local guys but, as far as I know, neither of them pursued it. Just hope it didn't end up in the trash or as an "up-cycled bar."

Hopefully the story has a happy ending--- or a new beginning for a nice looking machine.

Brad Abell

According to the seller, the buyer was from Manassas and "seemed to know a lot about them." That's all I know other than that the lucky winner "paid the small asking price." Like you, I hope "seemed to know a lot about them" doesn't translate into "knew it's a common machine and would be the perfect choice to turn into a liquor cabinet."