The Talking Machine Forum — For All Antique Phonographs & Recordings

I am a machine collector more than a music collector, but I just came across a few hundred cylinders. Most are blue amberol records, some 2 min black wax, and some other brands. I was hoping someone could help me out with identifying some of the more important/rare/or valuable ones. Is there some kind of list floating about with this info? 5000 series? Things of that kind.

Thanks

Watch prices on eBay for a few months and you may develop a vague general idea about Blue Amberol values. I see a huge variation of prices, even for the same titles, much less different artists or categories, so any published guide is going to be suspect, rather than gospel. I personally think a clean EX grade, common title might be fairly priced at $10. I buy a lot of stuff in the $10-$15 range. Some records such as Hawaiian may fetch only $5. Good foxtrots, jazz and blues are in great demand and may sell for $20 or $30 or higher. Some of the high-brow classical stuff sells for $50-$100. I paid $200 for one, and six months later paid $10 for the same title! Oh, well. Prices for 5000 series seem to go up exponentially for the really late ones.

VintageTechnologies wrote:Watch prices on eBay for a few months and you may develop a vague general idea about Blue Amberol values. I see a huge variation of prices, even for the same titles, much less different artists or categories, so any published guide is going to be suspect, rather than gospel. I personally think a clean EX grade, common title might be fairly priced at $10. I buy a lot of stuff in the $10-$15 range. Some records such as Hawaiian may fetch only $5. Good foxtrots, jazz and blues are in great demand and may sell for $20 or $30 or higher. Some of the high-brow classical stuff sells for $50-$100. I paid $200 for one, and six months later paid $10 for the same title! Oh, well. Prices for 5000 series seem to go up exponentially for the really late ones.

It's not hard to buy "less desirable" Blue Amberols for a few dollars, particularly if you buy in bulk. Clean 2M wax becomes harder to find every year thanks to mold and breakage. As noted, the classical wax Amberol stuff can go for a lot of money.

There are several spoken word cylinders by Taft, Roosevelt, Bryan, and Edison that are expensive. Ditto Shackleton's South Pole cylinder. Sophie Tucker is also in demand.

Thanks for the feedback. I did a search of completed listings to get some examples of more valuable ones. Much appreciated