The Talking Machine Forum — For All Antique Phonographs & Recordings

This was the first record released in the Okeh "vertical" cut catalogue, and look how it arrived...

It just torques me off when a seller doesn't adequately protect a record when shipping it.

Sad to think it is forever lost, lost, lost.

I was having a run of bad luck like that. I had to rebuy 2 records twice. Yeah, I was mad.

I was very pleased to win the first Blue Amberol ever issued, No.1501 "Semiramide" Overture with original box and lid, on eBay.

It arrived in a USED manilla window envelope with no other protection whatsoever, but by great good luck was undamaged. My feedback to the seller read as follows :

"Item received in good condition, no thanks to the totally inadequate packaging!"

I had a short run of equally bad luck. For the life of me, I can't imagine why a seller things slapping a 78 between two pieces of cardboard would be sufficient packing! One of the sellers than turns around and says he's never had problems shipping records this way before (I'm guessing he's never shipped a shellac 78 before).

I received 2 fairly uncommon Victor picture discs in the mail last December. They were lightly wrapped in newspaper and tossed into a large box. The record gods must have been looking down on me because somehow, they made it in one piece. I don't even ship things that aren't fragile like that.

Brandon wrote:They were lightly wrapped in newspaper and tossed into a large box. The record gods must have been looking down on me because somehow, they made it in one piece.

That is exactly the way mine was prepared for shipping... a few token sheets of newspaper, and an oversize box.


Unfortunately, the record gods were not shining on me, but it is heartening to hear that others who have experienced poor package protection had favorable outcomes.

I've had a few 78's arrive in pieces. One was packaged in thin wrapping paper inside an old pair of cardboard sheets with loose folds. Guess where the disc breakage was? Yep, right where the cardboad folds. No "FRAGILE" notice on the packaging. Contacted the seller for a refund and he went on and on about how sorrowful he was about it and how he would sadly issue the refund. It was a $25.00 disc! No wonder he was so sad! Did get the refund.

Another seller packed two 78's without sleeves together without being separated, and encased in thin, flimsy cardboard. They got to me unbroken, but seriously showing signs of being rubbed together. They do play good enough. The good thing about such occurrences is determining who the inexperienced and incompetant sellers of 78 rpm discs are. I only buy from some incredible sellers of 78's out there whose packaging techniques are world class, putting pros like UPS, as an example, to shame. Be careful out there.

I almost forgot, once I received a record in a greasy pizza box!

As you probably already guessed, it did not make it.

Brandon wrote:I almost forgot, once I received a record in a greasy pizza box!

As you probably already guessed, it did not make it.

Was it stuck to the lid like pizza?

My personal favorite was a seller that sent me an envelope in a padded envelope. All I could think was, "you have to be kidding me?" Not even the token piece of cardboard to keep it mildly rigid. Just a padded envelope. In what universe does one have to be to believe that poor shellac 78 had a snowball's chance in hell of surviving?