The Talking Machine Forum — For All Antique Phonographs & Recordings

Last night I saw what appears to be a humpbacked Victor II serial 48310, go for a good price on ShopGoodwill--it went to $756.75. I hope the auction was a good one; shills have driven the prices up on a lot of the typewriter sales & it may be the same for phonographs. But whoever wanted it wanted it badly.

Did a forum member get it?
I bid up to $480 and was still outbid--someone wanted this machine badly, and no wonder why.
If one of our guys snagged it--Great going and have fun with a very easy restoration!

Hmmm.... I have been noticing this with online sales and auctions, too. Just when you think you may actually get a good deal, the item magically goes up in price or "somebody else" starts bidding and gets the item back closer to market value by the time it is "said and done."

I miss the old days when things like this would slip through the cracks and go cheap!

The "days" when they would weren't that long ago; I paid $328 and change for a nice boxed Victor III from a Goodwill auction a few years ago and wanted to see if lighting strikes twice in the same place.

It's easy to tell the typewriter market is getting shilled as machines are going up over a thousand dollars. I don't mean for ultra-rare machines but for nice, harder-to-find typewriters that are routinely collected. Some typewriters are worth a bunch--Royals with the Vogue typeface for example--but most typewriters are worth $20 to $250 instead of $2500 and up.

I was the underbidder.
It would have been a nice one, oh well there will be more to discover.
James.

Well hopefully someone here got it!

Granby wrote: Tue Oct 26, 2021 8:50 am Hmmm.... I have been noticing this with online sales and auctions, too. Just when you think you may actually get a good deal, the item magically goes up in price or "somebody else" starts bidding and gets the item back closer to market value by the time it is "said and done."

I miss the old days when things like this would slip through the cracks and go cheap!

I've noticed this too.
Lets say I want to sell one of my machines, it would be very easy to get my sister to also bid on it, and raise the price.
Even if my sister won the auction, I could simply cancel it and relist it and start the scam again.
That's why eBay stopped bidders in a given auction from communicating with each other.

I never understand why they do that, instead of being more clear and put a reserve, or a realistic starting price... I suppose their tactics involve obscure psychological temptation of potential bidders by starting at a low price... But they are discovered soon!

I picked this up for $350 this weekend. So maybe I came out ok

Yes you did !
Is that a Victor II as well, looks like it ?

What a bargain!