What was it like to collect in the 1970s?

[Ampico66]

For you guys who were around in the 1970s and buying old phonographs, what was it like back then? Did you have much competition? Did you find a lot of really top-notch stuff? Were prices extremely cheap? Tell me about collecting before the books were written and before the internet. I want to hear it!

[JohnM]

It was the best of times, it was the worst of times. Hard to find parts. Poor-quality reproduction parts. Bargain-basement prices for machines, usually. Many times, free. Phonos were kept in the back rooms of antiques stores (no antiques malls, then). Rural antiques stores often had barns full of internal-horn machines, stacked on top of one another -- $4@ your choice. Phonos often found in the trash. Piles and piles of great 78's, usually a nickel or dime apiece. Phonos often purchased directly from original owners. Very little written info. Used to scour ads in Antique Trader and Hobbies and call dealers when phonos were listed. Every little roadside flea market was good for at least a couple of Victor reproducers, a crank of some kind, and maybe a couple pairs of Nipper s&p shakers all for .25 or .50 apiece. In the back of my mind, I still look at a $450 'Home' and think, "Damn, that's a lot for a $25 machine!"

Also, the print was bigger and clearer on record labels back then!

[Guest]

John is spot on correct. Written material was nil and reproduction parts were poor replacements. When I started in the middle seventies, Edison Homes and Standards were about the same price as a Vic II or III which was about $250. In many ways, prices for the common things are not much different today. In 1975 I spent $125 for a very clean Victrola X and I recently sold a nice XVI for $250. I think the biggest difference between now and forty years ago is the appreciation of the "good stuff". I remember tables at Union being covered with quality items and things moved quickly. I remember seeing a rare mahogany Vic D in the fancy case. I had never seen such a cool machine so I went to find my friend, Ira Dueltgen. Minutes later we went back to the table and the Vic D was already sold and gone. I remember seeing a Vic VI sell out of a trunk of a car for $700. Over the next few days, the same machine moved to three other booths at a slight increase of price with each move. Jerry Blais

[recordo]

I was only a kid in the 70s but I can remember junk shops in Sydney (antiques stores they were not), where there were walls and walls of 78s for 5 cents each. I bought so many back then you can't believe it.

Even today the high end antiques stores don't seem to carry 78s for some reason...

[Valecnik]

Hmmmm.... on the downside, after receiving "Jerry's Musical News" and finding a hand typed description of a machine you were interested in, you'd have to call the guy up or worse yet write him and he'd send you a polaroid pic a week later. You'd probably pay $10 for the phone call at ATT monopoly rates at a time when $10 was some serious money.

Then, you have to decide whether or not to buy based on a picture like this...

[JohnM]

Good old Jerry Madsen! He'd roll through town with his station wagon so packed you wouldn't think he could get another thing in there. Then he'd unpack it all so you could go through it! Used to call him affectionately Jerry 'the Packrat'. Good memories!

[Valecnik]

Actually it was more like the early 80s when I started collecting. Compare "Jerry's Musical News" of 1982 with today's, "The Sound Box".... (No criticism of JMN intended. There was just nothing better, hand typed on an old typewriter and corrected with a pen where necessary)

[Ampico66]

This is great guys! Thank you for your contributions so far! I love it.

[Valecnik]

This is great guys! Thank you for your contributions so far! I love it.

Check out the jpg file, 5th down labeled, "Victor M for sale!_0005.jpg", the one with the record auction. My god now could you buy off a list like that, even worse, how could you type it on a manual typerwiter??? It must have taken days...

[TinfoilPhono]

Interesting thread! The memories......

I started in 1961 so I'm celebrating 50 years come July 12, which is the anniversary of my first purchase: a table-model Victrola VV-IX that cost me $5. That was too expensive for the time but I didn't know that yet. However I did make a $1 profit when I sold it in 1963.... (Most of the Victrolas I got in the next few years were free.)

The most I ever paid for a phonograph in those days was $25, and it was a rare occasion indeed when I'd go that high. I broke my own rule once in 1963 when I paid $40 for a Columbia BO but it came with a half-barrel Herzog cabinet and 80 or so records so I rationalized it as $25 for the machine and $15 for the rest. I also broke my limit again in 1964 when I paid $27 for a Zonophone A at an auction.

But it was all luck of the draw. We had very little clue about what was rare and what wasn't. I paid top price, $25, for a Gem B because I'd never seen one before and therefore I thought it was scarce (I had found dozens of Standards and Homes by then). As others have said, parts were hard to find and repros were crappy in quality.

I had some very good times and still own a few machines from that era (Columbia AB, $20 with 4 records; Victor III, $8; the Gem and a couple of others) but really I wasn't a collector, I was an accumulator. It wasn't until the 80s and 90s that I started focusing my collecting and sold off duplicates and common machines to concentrate on things that appealed to me more. Unfortunately for my bank account, what appeals to me most are tinfoils and coin-ops..........

(Ah, coin-ops: I desperately wanted one in the 60s. I was offered a BS at $75. Crazy money. I begged and pleaded with my mother to buy it. I finally prevailed, sent off a check, and got it returned with a note saying it was sold. I was devastated. I didn't get a coin-op -- another BS -- until 1979, as part of the most lop-sided and misguided trade I ever made. I was absolutely hosed on that deal. My fault for being so hungry and stupid.)