The Talking Machine Forum — For All Antique Phonographs & Recordings

This Improved Gramophone record just sold on ebay for $587 , What makes this record so valuable or was it just a bidding war gone wild?

Very early 7 inch, 120 years old record,,, very first disc records to have paper labels,,, desirable title and band,,, record condition and as you stated possible bidding war between two collectors.. In a nut shell "all the above"

Blizz

This is the reason I’ll never own a record pre-1901!

I would love to place an Eldridge Johnson record on the turntable of my Eldridge Johnson "M". There have been several on eBay lately, but I just can't justify spending what they're going for. Not complaining. Nobody's problem but my own. Just sayin'...

This Consolidated Talking Machine record brought a premium price because it is among the earliest E. Johnson records which maintained the ‘GRAM-O-PHONE’ name in the label. These were very short lived. In a controversial court ruling on a lawsuits from Columbia, E. Berliner was forbidden from selling his gramophones in the U. S.. Berliner moved his operations to Canada to focus on the Canadian Talking Machine Market. Berliner turned over his US business interests to his friend and business partner E. Johnson. The earliest E. Johnson machines and records continued the ‘Gram-O-Phone’ on their labeling. The courts quickly ruled (within a few months) that Johnson could not sell any machines or records under the Gramophone label. So E. Johnson records and machines with the Gramophone label are extremely rare and desirable and alway command a premium price. An E Johnson ‘Gram-O-Phone’ record has long been on my wish list, but I can never bring myself to pay the high price that they always bring.