The Talking Machine Forum — For All Antique Phonographs & Recordings

I just watched Pawn Stars and thought I would see if anyone else saw the Victrola. Gotta love a good, knowledgeable pawn shop owner!

Yeah, interesting. Do you have the stylus? Do you have the diaphragm? I do have this beautiful handle....

Only $2000!

but finding parts is such a challenge...

Blind leading the blind.

I just watched the show. I think the episode will be helpful
at least for sending a message. There are still way too many
sellers with silly prices on machines missing vital parts.

Holy cow! Wrong on so many level! $2000? Stylus? Diaphragm? Parts hard to come by? I guess I can't be too tough for her being about a decade off on the year....I suppose that's the least of her sins.

I think blind leading the blind is a rather good description of the situation. You could probably have the machine running for about $100. At which point you'd have a $400 machine in this market (the finish was pretty rough).

I agree Zeppy, for a little investment, she'd have a working machine, but certainly not $2k worth. That is unless she's the type as others on our favorite auction site that puts other common machines starting at $1k. Insane... And besides, the crank escutcheon was missing!

I agree as well. Wrong on so many levels. In her defense, there was a time when each of us didn't have a clue as to the market value for a Victrola. Before I got into the hobby, I wouldn't have known whether a Victrola was worth $200 or $2000, let alone know the difference between models, finish, etc. I think he made a bigger fool out of himself than she did. He said, "Do you have the stylus head?". When she answered no, he replied, "Do you have the diaphragm?". Obviously he didn't know what he was talking about.

I have to say that I enjoyed the bit though. It's always fun to see a phonograph on T.V. no matter how bad the clip may be.

SonnyPhono wrote:I agree as well. Wrong on so many levels. In her defense, there was a time when each of us didn't have a clue as to the market value for a Victrola. Before I got into the hobby, I wouldn't have known whether a Victrola was worth $200 or $2000, let alone know the difference between models, finish, etc. I think he made a bigger fool out of himself than she did. He said, "Do you have the stylus head?". When she answered no, he replied, "Do you have the diaphragm?". Obviously he didn't know what he was talking about.

I have to say that I enjoyed the bit though. It's always fun to see a phonograph on T.V. no matter how bad the clip may be.

I may have not known the value of a Victrola, nor known what Victrolas are rare, and which are common, but I can't imagine calling someone over to my house, and try to sell something without any clue of its value. And where did she pull that $2k figure from? How do people just pull a number out of the air like that?

And the bald guyu did make a total fool of himself. I always did find it annoying that the guy tries to act like he knows everything about everything. But I suppose in his line of work, I guess you have to be able to throw the BS around.

Zeppy wrote:

SonnyPhono wrote:I agree as well. Wrong on so many levels. In her defense, there was a time when each of us didn't have a clue as to the market value for a Victrola. Before I got into the hobby, I wouldn't have known whether a Victrola was worth $200 or $2000, let alone know the difference between models, finish, etc. I think he made a bigger fool out of himself than she did. He said, "Do you have the stylus head?". When she answered no, he replied, "Do you have the diaphragm?". Obviously he didn't know what he was talking about.

I have to say that I enjoyed the bit though. It's always fun to see a phonograph on T.V. no matter how bad the clip may be.

I may have not known the value of a Victrola, nor known what Victrolas are rare, and which are common, but I can't imagine calling someone over to my house, and try to sell something without any clue of its value. And where did she pull that $2k figure from? How do people just pull a number out of the air like that?

And the bald guyu did make a total fool of himself. I always did find it annoying that the guy tries to act like he knows everything about everything. But I suppose in his line of work, I guess you have to be able to throw the BS around.

Good point Zeppy. I wouldn't call someone over to my house without knowing at least a little about what I was selling. I wondered the same thing about how she came up with $2,000. Maybe she had a family member check on eBay like some people do, and they took the highest price and slapped it on her's regardless of the model and condition. Who knows?!

Obviously the show is scripted to some degree as ratings are the bottom line in that industry. I imagine if he isn't educated on a particular item that the producers shine some light on it for him. Or at least they give him time to do some preliminary research. I'm sure the guy knows a little bit about a whole lot, but can also BS with the best of them too. Like you said, in that line of work you probably have to be good at that.

I suppose at least your gewtting tv programmes featuring phonographs. I can't remember the last time I saw such a feature on the tv But you would at least expect a so called "expert" to get things broadly right!

S-B-H