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On eBay right now there are 3 early Chinese records- the earliest I've ever seen show up for sale

https://www.ebay.com/itm/306392705692?_ ... XPP4BM08N2 - 1906 Victor

https://www.ebay.com/itm/197477740289?_ ... R5KF4tyOZg - 1902 Columbia

https://www.ebay.com/itm/297292589740?_ ... R5KF4tyOZg - 1902 Columbia

m_nakamura wrote: Mon Aug 04, 2025 12:00 pm On eBay right now there are 3 early Chinese records- the earliest I've ever seen show up for sale

https://www.ebay.com/itm/306392705692?_ ... XPP4BM08N2 - 1906 Victor

https://www.ebay.com/itm/197477740289?_ ... R5KF4tyOZg - 1902 Columbia

https://www.ebay.com/itm/297292589740?_ ... R5KF4tyOZg - 1902 Columbia

Well, if I pack up smoking and drinking for a week or two, defer buying that EMG and Beatles 78 rpm record I could almost afford these.

On the face of it, they seem like excellent records in my personal opinion. I wish I could afford them.

These red-labeled Columbia discs were recorded in Shanghai in 1903. I've been following their sale for about 20 years and have seen a few dozen of them offered at prices starting around $500 during that time, but I could never bring myself to buy one. Chinese records from the imperial era are prohibitively expensive because there are very determined domestic collectors.

It is noticeable that these discs are mostly in unusually good condition. Presumably they sold poorly at the time and the ones that have survived come from unsold dealers' stocks.