"In a free-market economy, things are, by definition, "worth" the highest price
they can command."
This is true under most conditions and would be true if the top 2 bidders knew
what it was. Some people thought it was an Alva and the triumph is my favorite
machine and I have photos of the Alva so I had no idea what it was.
The ad and the photo makes a huge difference. A few years ago a standard A
with 100% of the pinstriping GONE sold for $750 with an equally ratty horn
because the seller, an antique dealer said it was the best he had seen in 30
years and it was mint.
I got a blank weight C reproducer for $80 because the photo was poor and you
had to really look to see the weight was blank during the time when they were
selling for over $200.
LightfootIA sold fairly common cylinder records for $30 to $40 with an
excellent ad that told all about the performers and other interesting things.
> The way it was listed would make it difficult for most of the people
> with the advanced knowledge to know what it was to find it. I would
> suspect the number of individuals who would recognize it as a early
> coin-op mechanism is not large and the portion of that population who
> are sufficiently computer literate to search out all of the poor
> listings makes the pool even smaller. Not to mention buying a mecanism
> without already having a cabinet to put it into does not make much sense.
>
> On 06/20/2011 03:02 PM, richard_ru...@hotmail.com wrote:
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> > I'd say he got a major windfall anyway. How much do you think he paid for
> > it to begin with? The starting price was $9.99; I bet he would have made
> > money even if it had sold for that. I'm sure he was deliriously happy with
> > the outcome.
> >
> > I doubt any picker -- or anyone without a great deal of specific expertise
> > -- could have found out much more about it than he already knew when he
> > posted the thing. Certainly it would have taken much more than just "basic
> > research." Besides, a number of bidders obviously knew what it was, or else
> > it wouldn't have fetched even $100.
> >
> > In a free-market economy, things are, by definition, "worth" the highest
> > price they can command. So, in fact, this motor is worth $3,750, not
> > $15,000. If it were worth $15,000, someone would have paid that much for
> > it. There is no shortage of phonographic expertise (or expertise of any
> > kind) out in Ebay-land. Lots of people saw this and knew exactly what it
> > was. The highest any of them was willing to go was $3,750.
> >
> >
> >
> >> Date: Mon, 20 Jun 2011 08:04:01 -0500
> >> From: rich-m...@octoxol.com
> >> To: phono-l@oldcrank.org
> >> Subject: Re: [Phono-L] Why did this go so high
> >>
> >> This is what happens when these pickers fail to do even any basic
> >> research. They miss out on a major windfall. I have a very early
> >> business machine sitting over here with one of those type motors in it.
> >>
> >> On 06/20/2011 06:40 AM, bruce78...@comcast.net wrote:
> >>> I bet you could have knocked the seller over with a feather, after the
> >>> final bidding !! He obviously would be even more in shock, if he knew
> >>> what the ultimate potential value of his little hunk of worthless iron
> >>> and strange looking parts actually is.
> >>>
> >>> ----- Original Message -----
> >>> From: clockworkh...@aol.com
> >>> To: phono-l@oldcrank.org
> >>> Sent: Monday, June 20, 2011 12:46:07 AM
> >>> Subject: Re: [Phono-L] Why did this go so high
> >>>
> >>>
> >>> This is the works from an Edison Eclipse coin op. The motor is the
> >>> *correct*bipolar motor and not one of the Econowatt Business Phonograph
> >>> swap ins that are the norm. All you need to do with this one is drop it
> >>> into the correct cabinet with coin drop box and trip. The extra hole in
> >>> front of the straight edge is for the coin trip rod. For a purist, this
> >>> original unmodified Eclipse mechanism is better than solid Platinum.
> >>>
> >>> I actually think it went rather low since the listing did not call it a
> >>> phonograph or state what it really was. An Edison Record Player is hardly
> >>> enough to describe how really rare that machine was. If I had a spare
> >>> Eclipse cabinet missing the phonograph mechanism I would have bid upward
> >>> of $15,000.
> >>>
> >>> Regards to all,
> >>>
> >>> Al
> >>>
> >>> _______________________________________________
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> >>> http://phono-l.oldcrank.org
> >>> _______________________________________________
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> >>>
> >>>
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> >
> >
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> >
> >
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