Dear Phonolisters: All the talk of Pattis and Swans in recent Phonolist postings makes me think of one of my "big fish that got away" stories.................
When I was in high school and living in Orlando, I made contact with an old collector who invited me over to trade some stuff. I brought with me a spare Radiola III and Balanced Amp and a small Victor Orthophonic Victrola as he expressed interest in when I listed the items I had for trade over the phone. I made a deal to trade my items for several other Radiolas and as I walked through his garage to take the sets to my car, I saw shelves of records up against the wall. Since I considered myself to be primarily a collector of 1920s jazz records with phonographs and radios only a side interest, I stopped to take a look at what was there. Every record I pulled off the shelves at random were Black Swans! I tried several shelves and all were Swans with multiple copies of some records. I was taken aback as I tried to figure out the right way to discuss this discovery with him. After mentioning "the records in the garage" to him, he told me that he didn't really collect records but years before had bought out the contents of an old furniture store on Church Street (in the heart of the Black neighborhood of Orlando) and the records came with the other stuff. I told him of my interest and he said that maybe we could do some more trading. I called him many times after that but he never seemed interested in what I had for trade. Once when I was home from college I called his phone number to find it disconnected. I drove by his house to discover it empty and for sale. I have always wondered what happened to those records. Are they now on the shelves of some other record collector or did his wife or children just put them out for the trash men. Regards, Green Mountain Bill PS: Speaking of Orlando, do any of you remember a husband and wife phonograph collectors named Coffee? With my dad waiting in the car, I traded cylinders for radio items to them several times before I was able to drive myself around. _______________________________________________ Phono-L mailing list http://phono-l.oldcrank.org
