The Talking Machine Forum — For All Antique Phonographs & Recordings

Just saw this on Ebay-- Amazing that even some "professional" artists don't want to do the leg-work to ensure the accuracy of their art.

https://www.ebay.com/itm/114940094608?h ... SwWZtgzxTt

Brad Abell

Yes, yes, because behind that image there is an abject and careful work of falsification, taking the decal from a phonograph and adding it to a gramophone. Who knows what there is within certain minds...

Just want to make sure. There's no falsification on the part of the seller, no? The item for sale is a genuine postcard from 1989? Someone back then made a "mistake" with regards to the talking machine depicted on the card?

Sometime in the 1950's then West Germany issued a commemorative stamp on the 100th anniversary of the death of Schumann. His portrait was included on the stamp with a fragment of a musical score. Only thing, the music depicted on the stamp was by Schubert, not Schumann. That's a little more forgivable than this postcard.

For posterity, here's the very misguided First Day Cover.

The 1977 Centennial of the Phonograph stamp wasn't quite as egregious, but it still managed to combine an early tinfoil with a much later decal-ornamented wooden Edison Home-style cabinet. There were a lot of complaints at the time.

Hmmm, 1989.... glad to see that we've gotten over it.

The artist was informed of a mistake in the picture, but no one informed him what it was... He responded with this revised image...

Good job, Curt!!

Thanks, Brad... but don't give me the credit, I just "found" the revised image and thought I would post it...

I'm not sure what this thing is, but I don't think it's actually a "first day cover," at least as I understand the term. That three-cent stamp was ancient by the time of the postmark, and the other one has nothing to do with Edison or phonographs. Looks to me like somebody or other generated the philatelic equivalent of those "collector's plates" that used to be offered as a sure bet to be worth huge money in the future. Uh, huh.

I agree... First Class postage in 1989 was $.25, so this has a $.22 stamp and an Edison $.03 stamp, which came out in 1947. This seems to be a Milan, OH thing, using an Edison postcard and leftover $.03 stamps, which are still readily available today for $.50 each.

There have been a number of "First Day" covers from Milan, OH - the first being in 1929 and then 1947 and apparently they found something that they could "milk" on a number of occasions...