I have a Victor model C with an Eldridge Johnson nameplate that was given to me years ago. When I was in my early teens, I began collecting old radios. I made friends with an old man about 20 miles away who also collected radios. When I saw the light and turned into a phono collector, Jack gave me the remains of this Victor C. It was a sad looking thing. The case was falling apart and missing a complete side. No horn, traveling arm or crank either. He did still have the long throat Concert reproducer though. I started working on restoring it and he called and said he found some more. I couldn't believe it when he showed me a second Victor C case and motor, this one more complete. It only lacked a few corner columns. It took years, but I found the missing parts and I still think fondly of Jack each time I play it. I traded the other parts to another very nice man, Ralph Osborne. We made a deal to trade and I brought my parts to a MAPS meeting. Ralph forgot his end of the bargain at home and I said it was no problem, I would get them next time or maybe even pay him a visit. Well, he had a heart attack right after that. I just did not think it proper to bother his widow about somthing like that so I lost out on the whole deal. Another favorite phono of mine was one I found via an ad I ran in the newspaper. It was 1980 and an elderly lady called me and said she had a couple of phonographs for sale. I went to her centenial farm house and it was a literal step back in time. The place was crammed with antiques all left to her over the years by various family members. She took me to an upstairs bedroom and showed me a Victor I. I bought it for $100. In the other bedroom was an Edison Home model D with a cygnet horn. She wanted $200 for it. It did not work and she said she really did not want to sell it yet but hoped I could fix it for her and then buy it later. I did fix it and 2 years later she called me and said she was ready to sell it. I paid her the $200 which she said would go to buy her husband a tombstone. I would not ever consider selling either of these two machines. In fact, a guy a few years ago wanted to trade me a Victor VI missing the horn and he really wanted that Edison Home. I turned him down. From a value standpoint I was crazy, but I have never been into this to make money, only to have fun. Dave Dazer From TAEdisonJR Fri Feb 20 19:33:49 2004 From: TAEdisonJR (taediso...@aol.com) Date: Sun Dec 24 13:10:33 2006 Subject: [Phono-L] favorite finds Message-ID: <1ea.199039dc.2d680...@aol.com>
I've really enjoyed reading other collectors' stories of great finds. It's a good thing this isn't a contest or there would already been several candidates for first place! I could tell some good stories from my earliest days in the 1960s, but as George Paul said, that wouldn't be fair. At that time there wasn't anything particularly unusual about $8 Victor IIIs or $20 Columbia ABs. I only have two 'good' modern-day stories, and I'll stick to just one for the sake of brevity. Until he retired recently, I would occasionally get visits from a guy who worked for PG&E, the local power company. He collected phonographs, and because of his job he was in the unique position of being invited into most of the homes in the county for 20+ years, where he often found fine old treasures that the owners wanted to get rid of. A few years ago he stopped by to chat for a few minutes. Somehow or other we got onto the topic of the glass-sided Zonophone Model A which I'd owned when I was a kid and which I deeply regret having traded many years ago (and which would be fodder for a thread on the WORST deals we've ever made....). He said he had just that same morning seen a glass-sided Zonophone at a house about 8 miles north, and the machine was for sale. He didn't want it (he preferred later consoles), so he gave me the owner's name and I called immediately. Fortunately the owner was there, so I hopped in the car and was at his house 15 minutes later. He turned out to be a flea-marketer specializing in radios, not a phonograph collector, and he had just found this at a local garage sale. However -- it wasn't a Model A. I didn't know exactly what it was as I'd never seen this model before. It looked for all the world like a Model A, with two bevelled glass sides and turned posts on the corners, but the base was thicker and wider, and it had a 9" rather than 7" turntable. The all-brass horn was a monstrous 30" long. The condition of the phonograph was superb. The horn had a lot of minor dents but no cracks or serious damage, and was clearly restorable. The very ornate front horn support was there, with an extra upright support to counterbalance the heavy horn. However it was missing the tonearm and reproducer. In my disappointment at discovering it wasn't the Model A I was hoping for I wasn't thinking clearly and I very nearly walked away. Then I stopped myself and figured that it is a Zonophone, after all, and I should at least ask the price. He said "how about $600?" My initial disappointment quickly evaporated. It was only later that I found out it was the earliest version of the Zonophone Concert Grand, with very few survivors. I had the horn rolled out at a music store, bought a perfect reproduction tonearm from Norm and Janine Smith, and a perfect replica Concert V reproducer from Mirek Stehlik. It is one of my favorite machines today. (For those who are interested, there is a picture on my website at http://members.aol.com/rondeau7/zono.htm). If anyone has an original tonearm or reproducer they'd be willing to spare, please let me know! Best regards, Rene Rondeau From edboyles Fri Feb 20 19:38:55 2004 From: edboyles (Eric Boyles) Date: Sun Dec 24 13:10:33 2006 Subject: [Phono-L] favorite finds In-Reply-To: <1ea.199039dc.2d680...@aol.com> References: <1ea.199039dc.2d680...@aol.com> Message-ID: <4036b6b0.80...@alltel.net> Aside from the $ 75 Berliner in 2004, I found a extremely nice maroon Gem D in 2003 for $125 with records in the classified ads and in the late 80's bought a Columbia BY (minus horn) for $25 at a second hand shop. Eric taediso...@aol.com wrote: >I've really enjoyed reading other collectors' stories of great finds. It's a >good thing this isn't a contest or there would already been several candidates >for first place! I could tell some good stories from my earliest days in the >1960s, but as George Paul said, that wouldn't be fair. At that time there >wasn't anything particularly unusual about $8 Victor IIIs or $20 Columbia ABs. >I >only have two 'good' modern-day stories, and I'll stick to just one for the >sake of brevity. > >Until he retired recently, I would occasionally get visits from a guy who >worked for PG&E, the local power company. He collected phonographs, and >because >of his job he was in the unique position of being invited into most of the >homes in the county for 20+ years, where he often found fine old treasures >that >the owners wanted to get rid of. A few years ago he stopped by to chat for a >few >minutes. Somehow or other we got onto the topic of the glass-sided Zonophone >Model A which I'd owned when I was a kid and which I deeply regret having >traded many years ago (and which would be fodder for a thread on the WORST >deals >we've ever made....). He said he had just that same morning seen a glass-sided >Zonophone at a house about 8 miles north, and the machine was for sale. He >didn't want it (he preferred later consoles), so he gave me the owner's name >and >I called immediately. Fortunately the owner was there, so I hopped in the car >and was at his house 15 minutes later. He turned out to be a flea-marketer >specializing in radios, not a phonograph collector, and he had just found this >at >a local garage sale. However -- it wasn't a Model A. I didn't know exactly >what it was as I'd never seen this model before. It looked for all the world >like a Model A, with two bevelled glass sides and turned posts on the corners, >but the base was thicker and wider, and it had a 9" rather than 7" turntable. >The all-brass horn was a monstrous 30" long. The condition of the phonograph >was >superb. The horn had a lot of minor dents but no cracks or serious damage, >and was clearly restorable. The very ornate front horn support was there, with >an extra upright support to counterbalance the heavy horn. However it was >missing the tonearm and reproducer. In my disappointment at discovering it >wasn't >the Model A I was hoping for I wasn't thinking clearly and I very nearly >walked >away. Then I stopped myself and figured that it is a Zonophone, after all, >and I should at least ask the price. He said "how about $600?" My initial >disappointment quickly evaporated. It was only later that I found out it was >the >earliest version of the Zonophone Concert Grand, with very few survivors. I >had >the horn rolled out at a music store, bought a perfect reproduction tonearm >from Norm and Janine Smith, and a perfect replica Concert V reproducer from >Mirek >Stehlik. It is one of my favorite machines today. (For those who are >interested, there is a picture on my website at >http://members.aol.com/rondeau7/zono.htm). > >If anyone has an original tonearm or reproducer they'd be willing to spare, >please let me know! > >Best regards, >Rene Rondeau >_______________________________________________ >Phono-l mailing list >phon...@oldcrank.com >http://t2.cwihosting.com/mailman/listinfo/phono-l_oldcrank.com > > >
