Columbia Expanda Album

[An Balores]

I happened to come across this thread viewtopic.php?f=11&t=53671 and noticed that there are a few glowing references to the record album held in the lid of the machine. Can anyone explain why these are held in such reverence? I assume it is simply because they are often gone missing in action and thus the machines are incomplete without them. Otherwise, as far as I can see, they are just a record album.......

[Inigo]

I think so... it's so special because of that.

[epigramophone]

A word of advice for anyone looking to acquire an album for a Columbia 201 or 202. They are not identical.
The 201 album measures 10.25 inches wide. The 202 album measures 10.75 inches wide.
If you see one for sale on eBay, ask the seller for it's measurements to avoid disappointment.

[An Balores]

Thank you both. So the purchaser paid approx £38 (45 euro's) for this machine and the consensus is that the album alone is worth that....... Who knew?
OK, so I have one of these albums knocking about. Its black. It is 10.25 inches wide so must be for the 201 Columbia.
I will post up for sale in the UK Trader section in a day or two when I have taken some pics of it. Its in pretty good shape, not mint. It would be nice for it to be re-united with a lonely machine so I won't be asking anything near £38.....

[epigramophone]

Decca, Paillard and possibly others also used these albums. Here are a couple of mine :

[An Balores]

Nice!

[Marco Gilardetti]

I assume it is simply because they are often gone missing in action and thus the machines are incomplete without them.

Absolutely correct. They are lost in 90% of the machines in my experience, and once you know that you're missing that nice attachment, you can't sleep at night, do you? It is absolutely beyond my comprehension why the owners would remove the album - which had the obvious purpose of carrying records inside the machine to a picnic - and store it in libraries just as ordinary albums, with which they didn't share the height, thickness, and not even the shape, but apparently that's what nearly everybody did.

I think I'm also interested in the Columbia Expanda album, but I have to measure the cabinet first because - just as mentioned by others - I happened to purchase an expanda of the wrong side in the past! Will write back, thanks for offering it for sale!

[epigramophone]

Even more incomprehensible is that owners also managed to lose the record trays supplied with pre-war HMV97 and 102 portables, plus the similar Columbia 204 and 206. They could hardly have filed them away on their record shelves, so where did they go?

It has to be said that the record tray was a poor design. Before the family picnic the records had to be removed from their covers, then stacked on the tray with the risk of scuffing and scratching if any sand got in from the beach. Once back home, they had to be returned to their covers.

Exorbitant prices are being asked for record trays because, as with albums, today's owners want their machines to be complete.

[Lah Ca]

Even more incomprehensible is that owners also managed to lose the record trays supplied with pre-war HMV97 and 102 portables, plus the similar Columbia 204 and 206. They could hardly have filed them away on their record shelves, so where did they go?

The back story on my (circa 1935) 102c is that its record tray was sacrificed for the war effort, handed over in door to door metals drive. At least this what the original owner told the person I bought it from.

Sadly, about a year before I bought my first gramophone, not the 102, I was in a consignment store (antiques, household goods, etc) in Victoria, BC, with some friends. In the tools and hardware section, there were two unrecognised and curious objects which were puzzled over at length. I now know that one was a scissor action bamboo needle cutter and the other was an HMV record tray, probably for a 102, in good condition but missing its felt mat.