The Talking Machine Forum — For All Antique Phonographs & Recordings

I won on my bidding on Tuesday night with a Korean 78rpm record from early 1920s at a Korean Antiques auction website. The seller didn't know about its value so he started at about 10 dollars and I only got it at that price. Actually, he knows nothing what the 78s are, so it was in the "LP Records" category so there was no bids for this one. I was so happy with this bargain.

The package finally came here earlier morning today, and just before I went out for my public service work, I unpacked it - it was broken into 8 pieces!!!! It could not be saved, since some parts of it literally turned into dust!

It was not the delivery man's fault - it was simply because that the selller simply sent this record in an LP sleeve and only used couple of paper towels (!!!!) for cushioning material! I called this seller about this unfortunate event, and this idiot thinks that I made the whole thing up to get an extra money (refund+insurance money) since he never saw an LP record breaking into pieces in his whole goddamn life!!!

Now, why I'm so angry about this broken record even I used to have similar occasions once in a while? Because it was SO rare and in a pristine condition (now, if you know anything about Asian 78s, you know it is once in a blue moon to find a pristine condition 78rpm record) it would have been an equivelent of The Koh-i-Noor diamond in my collection, The historical importance was unquestionable, and it was, as far as I know, the only known copy known to exist!!!! And it was in pieces.

The most frustrating part of it is that the unique historical document unavailable in any other format is now completely silenced because of this kind of stupidity and ignorance. So I'm hitting my head against the wall right now, with ears that will never hear that record.

Damn! I feel your pain. That's just awful. So many people just have no clue how to pack. Obviously he didn't realize that vinyl 33s and shellac 78s are not the same thing..........

I bought a rare drinking glass from a seller on eBay a couple of weeks ago. The seller -- with a couple thousand positive feedbacks -- packed it by wrapping some newspaper around it and putting it in a manila envelope. Manila envelope!!! Even if it had been a padded envelope it would have had no chance. That was just plain stupidity.

That's so sad. Stuff like this happens all too often. Most people have no concept of the fragility of 78s and cylinders. Even fewer can engineer a proper shipping package. If they ever saw package sorting at their post office, they might think about more cushioning and double-boxing. I pass up many auctions now because I don't want to see the resulting disaster. The description is always the tip-off: "I inherited these from my Uncle and don't know a thing about them..." - or something like that. As you point out, money can't replace some of these very rare things. I'd save the pieces anyway in case some of it might be salvageable enough to transfer (with glue and wax filler). It's a really sickening thing to be the passive part of the destruction process. Sorry to hear about this.

Regards,
Martin

Urgh, I know the feeling with that one.

The 1935 Christmas Speech on my YT channel is the 3rd disc I bought - the first time the seller sent it between a thin layer of cardboard and the 2nd time the seller sent it in a 12" card sleeve - nothing else.

Furiously, I contacted the seller and was told "I don't see why you're mad at me, I bought a 12" card sleeve especially to protect it" as if they somehow believed flimsy cardboard would protect a record.

Some people are clueless, it's very upsetting

I bought several 78 albums from the USA. They were all very carefully packed between sheets of board and often then wrapped in bubble wrap. I've never received broken or damaged records. Reading your experiences, was I plain lucky or did the sellers know what they were doing? I once bought a stack of records here in Holland and the seller built a fitted wooden box to keep them in one piece. Mind you, I did pay quite a bit of money for those, but he didn't charge a cent more than the agreed price for the records and only half of the postage. The box was free and I used it quite often going to fairs later on.
If you pay a substantial price for a record, send the seller packing instructions if he doesn't state his method explicitly. That way you avoid hardship on both sides.

Peter.

syncopeter wrote:If you pay a substantial price for a record, send the seller packing instructions if he doesn't state his method explicitly. That way you avoid hardship on both sides.

Peter.

This is what I do or buy from trusted sellers. I've had too many bad experiences to let it go to chance if i've paid a lot for a disk.

I agree with Peter - - sounds like we've all experienced this, and the only hope to avoiding catastrophe is mentioning at the outset how the item should be packed.

About a year ago I bought a Graphophone QB on eBay. This is simply a caseless Q provided with a rather fragile pasteboard box covered with leatherette. The Q sits in this flimsy box solely by gravity. Not many of these boxes have survived. The seller had sold many phonographs over the years, so I assumed he knew something about packing, but just because I'm anal-retentive I wrote to him, "Naturally, you will separate the machine and its box before packing it." Oh no, he replied - - he had already packed them up together. Did I want him to re-pack them? Yes, I did. Can you imagine what would have happened to the 110 year-old pasteboard box if a Q had been banging around inside it for 2000 miles? Some people seem to have no concept of the basic laws of physics. But all's well that ends well.

I once received a rare 1905 Faultless Concert disc record from a well known record mail auction. It arrived simply sandwiched between 2 pieces of cardboard, taped together. Absolutely no padding. I still have that record too - - all 4 pieces of it.

George P.

Thats to bad, Geesh people have no clue how to pack these. This is why i only will buy in the us only. I have a select few 4 or 5 people i only buy from.
He should refund that money asap. Unfortunately if it a rare record and worth much more you will only get the amount won and hipping back is all.
Its a sad thing, im sorry that happend.

George, I can tell you what would happen to a QB shipped with the mechanism inside the box. It happened to me.... It was a crying shame. The condition of the box and its lining was unbelievably pristine -- prior to shipping. When I got it the lining had scuffs and tears, and the box had two large holes poked right through the side.

I spent hours, literally, working with tweezers, a loupe, archival glue, and a toothpick (to spread the glue) and proceeded to painstakingly weave the layers of torn cardboard back together. The end result is good enough to not be terribly noticeable, but the damage is there. A once flawless QB is now decidedly flawed.

Sorry to hear that you caught the bullet that missed me, Rene. At least a wrecked QB can be restored. Your example looks very nice - - good job! Poor Art (and others, I'm sure) has a record that can never be played.

I wonder how many records have been destroyed over the past decade by eBay sellers?

George P.