Electrified Brunswick Panatrope "Cortez" on eBay for $20K

[Blimpy]

I found this little auction on eBay:
http://cgi.ebay.com/BRUNSWICK-PHONOGRAP ... 0858621728
A Brunswick Panatrope is selling for $20,000. The Panatropes were made by Brunswick to compete with Victor's "Orthophonic" line of Victrolas in the mid-'20s, for those who don't know. I wouldn't be surprised by a price of $2,000-$5,000, but $20,000???!!!

Is the "Cortez" an especially desirable model, especially when it has an electric motor instead of a spring motor? The seller seems to be an expert, as he implies that he has had over a decade's worth of experience with antique radio collecting, so he seems trustworthy.

I'll post screenshots if the auction ends.

[Phonofreak]

I put this on my watch list. This guy must be smoking wacky-tobacky!! I'm curious about the auction results, too.
Harvey Kravitz

[SonnyPhono]

$20K is a lot of money. I wonder what this "Cortez", (left side of picture) would be worth being finished in Walnut...

[FloridaClay]

$20,000? Someone else who has lost touch with reality.

Clay

[recordo]

For twenty grand, couldn't he have at least dusted the inside near the turntable!

And that description - does that have anything to do with the machine on sale?

Prototype for a Credenza???

I see a big "NO SALE" on this one!

[JohnM]

This guy must be smoking wacky-tobacky!!

I've never had wacky-tabacky THAT good!

[OrthoFan]

I see that some of the photos and text used in the ad were copied and pasted directly from James A. Carino's CAPS article -- http://www.capsnews.org/apn2011-2.htm

Does this mean that Mr. Carino is the seller? If not, did the seller have his permission or the permission from CAPS to use this in his ad?

Someone might want to check on this... just saying.

[gramophoneshane]

I'll post screenshots if the auction ends.

Ain't gonna happen
I very much doubt you'd even get $20,000 for a 202 or 203 in perfect condition these days.
Admittedly, the Cortez is a fairly scarce & desirable machine, but Brunswick simply dont have the following of collectors like Victor/HMV & Edison, so I dont think there's a knowledgable collector in the world how would pay that sort of money, not even in Japan.
I have never personally seen a Cortez offered for sale, but I'd be extemely surprized if they are worth anymore than $5000- $7000 in Australia (which would bring them inline with the HMV 193/194), so they are probably worth even less in USA because they are far more common there.
Beautiful machine, and I'd love one myself, but this seller is dreaming.

[1923VictorFan]

I have a beautiful and rare 1915 Orthophonic Victor VV-VI for sale! It still has its original french provincial (gold on white) paint and it works great! You won't find this one in any books...that's how rare it is! Includes 45 rpm record adapter and selection of original Zon-o-Phone LP records. I'm settling my grandmothers estate so I'm only asking $4K.

[gramophoneshane]

I see that some of the photos and text used in the ad were copied and pasted directly from James A. Carino's CAPS article -- http://www.capsnews.org/apn2011-2.htm

Does this mean that Mr. Carino is the seller? If not, did the seller have his permission or the permission from CAPS to use this in his ad?

Someone might want to check on this... just saying.

lol, I noticed that myself. I too thought it could be the machine in the article, but the machine in the article is s/n 147426, & the ebay machine is apparently s/n134569.
Reading the ebay auction, there's is absolutely nothing about the machine for sale, besides the serial number in the title.
There's no mention of anything done to HIS motor, no condition report, no nothing, not even whether his Cortez works or not.
He wants $20,000 based on 4 lousy pictures, none of which even show the data plate.
I actual wonder if the auction is even genuine. The pictures could have been obtained from elsewhere I guess, and the serial number could be based on the the article information that Canada & USA might have received designated blocks of numbers for their respective machines.
The more I look at this listing, the more I think it's intentionally misleading.
Perhaps someone should send a request for a picture of the ID tag?