Came to realise how much better Diamond Discs sound compared to the dubbed Blue Amberols.

Nothing like removing old animal glue from a Diamond Disc Edison platter. Even with the acetone & rubber gloves elbow grease is required!
And do this in a well ventilated area like my garage work bench by the window.
Eventually this will go back on my C19 Chippandale upright.

Can anybody help provide additional details for this model? I inherited my late uncles house and this was in there. Not finding much information through Google.

Hi everyone! I’m hoping to get some advice from people who know antique phonographs better than I do.

I have this Brunswick cabinet phonograph that I’m looking to sell. It’s a beautiful piece and appears to be in pretty good cosmetic condition, but I’m not very knowledgeable about Brunswick models, dating, or the collector market.

My main goal is to sell it for a fair price and ideally get as much value out of it as reasonably possible, rather than putting it on Facebook Marketplace and unknowingly letting it go for far less than it’s worth.

I’d really appreciate any advice on:
1. What model/approximate year this appears to be
2. Roughly what it might be worth in the current market or whether Brunswick phonographs like this have much collector demand
3. Where you would recommend selling one for the best price — eBay, an antique phonograph dealer, auction house, specialty collector groups, Craigslist/Facebook Marketplace, etc.
4. Whether it would be worth having it professionally serviced or restored before selling, or if collectors generally prefer them untouched

I’m in Southern California, so if anyone knows of reputable dealers, collectors, auction houses, or phonograph specialists in the area, I’d especially appreciate recommendations.

Thanks so much! I want to make sure I understand what I have before deciding how and where to sell it.

This is Hiawatha by Dan w Quinn Columbia black wax 32175 from late 1903. This song is about native Americans and kind of a silly love song about native Americans. And i believe Fred hylands plays piano for this one.

Rockin' like it's 190X with my Edison Phonograph and "The Songs of the Ragtime Boy" circa 1906. Old stuff rules!

Comment on any details that would further refine the date or any further information.

Picked this up today! It's about 42" long and 20" wide. I don't know anything about it other than that.

I got an okay condition VV 2-55 off of eBay

The vinylite exterior is in poor shape, honestly, I might get it replaced with actual leather.

The motor works, for how gummed up it is, it runs well, like 5 minutes well. Are all the gears supposed to be lubricated with grease, or is it supposed to be oiled?

The reproducer (spider orthophonic) is cracked in the back plate and everything is dried out, gonna replace the parts, but why did it have 2 face plates? There was cloth that was eaten at by bugs and fiber glass between them, why?

Also, should I use my lithium grease or my graphite for this one?

Umm… I might have found something somewhat historic… or something?!

It does look like he was a composer and basically ordered personal copies and sent them as mail order to individuals to skip the whole process… that’s a quick bit ‘o research, nothing solid.

I’ll gladly take any info!

This is the VV-XVI L-Door 42044-C (1910/11 ish, can’t remember).

Thanks again for stopping, and if you have any further enlightenment, please contribute!

“Flat Top Pooley” VTLA- later marked VV-XVI- edition, complete with Pooley cabinet key! VTLA #1942 (1907- sorry I had to edit and change from 1908)

Die Zauberflöte (The Magic Flute), Papageno, Papagena, Act 2, Victor Record # 87510

Everyone’s getting some exercise! I was so fortunate to find a TOP WISH LIST item of mine, but sadly it’s cracked! (short note about it in vid)… still sort of playable 😢 I still have a lot to go through, maybe I’ll get lucky!

Sorry ‘bout ‘ole hop-along Skip… I’ll hopefully find a better copy soon! I wish all a wonderful evening, thank you for stopping, or otherwise. 🙂
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I love Mozart. He was “Pop” when pop wasn’t cool- but was cool with the people! Many of his pieces were in German, like this one, and was meant to strike a chord with the populace being in a language they could understand (Vice Latin{?} and Italian, anything else was uncouth to the sensitive ear… I recommend seeing AMADEUS (if you like good acting AND an amazing score). (Link is to a clip of this very piece being performed from Amadeus)

Note to the linguistically inclined or interested:

Papagano/Papagana- parrot, Italian, male&female
Papagayo - Spanish
Papagei - German
The OG- origin- ببغاء baba-gha-‘ Arabic

The evolution of Victor Records from an 1898 Berliner to a 1905 Victor. All 7”. The picture is a little distorted because of the panoramic view.

Thought this was an intresting thing, wonder if the phonograph part actually functions

Victor Victrola the Eighteenth or VV-XVIII

I’ve posted this one, but never “introduced” her properly I don’t believe!

Since everyone is getting their maintenance, I thought I’d let anyone who’s interested get a good look inside and out. I forgot record storage & license agreement: I’ll post in comments.

I’ll post a vid of the record on the turntable being played on [r/78rpm](r/78rpm). Such a cheery piece!

Anyhoo- these ARE out there and one CAN find them. You will have to pay, though. The cost revolves around actual condition. This one has extreme finish issues (crazing) and needs its hardware re-plated/gilded, and obvious physical damage (right side column facing machine, lid, and some scratching on back).

When I bought her, they were asking $800. I asked if they’d take $700°, they asked to meet halfway and $750 it was. She was covered in dust, dirt, dried out, and the motor was beyond dirty and thus would not properly function because of it. Surprisingly, the Exhibition rubber isolator was STILL supple! No cracking.

All that aside, “value” is very subjective- especially in the phonograph market as it is these days (slumped); however, when it comes to semi-rarities or less-common machines like these, condition will matter universally, no matter the market. If you happen to find a fully functional VE-XVIII on marketplace (I LOVE this story!) for $300- don’t even ask questions other than how quick can I get there? (If that helps)

I wish you a peaceful day, thank you for stopping, upvoting, looking, reading, whatever! I appreciate it 🙂

° it’s the Arab trader in me! I am not of Arab descent, but I truly respect their custom and I have actually bargained with Arab traders in their countries in narrow little alleys of dusty Souks! Some of the most amazing times in my life. You shoulda seen the looks I got when I spoke to them in clear, grammatically-correct Modern Standard Arabic (no one speaks it but kings, the media, and kids in grade school for like a couple of hours a day maybe lol)

°° yes… I know ;-) it’s laundry day, I started it lmao

I definitely feel like she deserves the “king hat”/“queen hat” symbol, tho!… lol

Basically, the more wound the spring is, the slightly faster it goes and vice versa. Everything has been cleaned, re-oiled, and re-greased. (including the mainspring)

I suspect it could be the governor friction pads, but I don’t know how to replace them. Has anyone had this issue before, and how do I fix it? Thanks!

Making sure everyone gets oil they so desperately deserve in order to keep functioning for as long as there are hands/appendages to use them!

Oh, the HuMANity!

“Sewing Machine Cabinet Permanently Disfigured - Addition of Collapsible Side Table Aberration! film at 11!”

tl;dr - reason for showing this: just thought I’d share my home solution for schlepping around these stacks - literally maybe 200 in this cabinet alone- of shellac or even vinyl records and a tabletop machine.

I can hear it now 😂: “…AND the audacity- white after Labor Day, cannibalizing Victrola parts?! …Christmas?! In September?!” Scandal!

Yes! It’s tore up from the floor up, “Abby Normal”, whatever you wanna call it! But hear me out! It’s an old sewing machine cabinet. I made it into a storage/cart/mobile table that’s capable of holding even more records than shown, each filled with 12” shellacs (likely at least 150lbs 100-110 pounds themselves), of opening its top (I haven’t decided what to do with the intrinsic lid yet lol), hanging things, rolling, transporting, and now has a collapsing, simple, yet stark side-table that can hold a lotta stuff. 😏 Truth is, none of it as pieces were useful before, but all of it is now! I may put larger casters on it, though. Details below :)

I wish you a wonderful day and thank you for stopping by!

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If you do something like this, do ensure you account for engineering challenges due to weight bearing and smooth movement to ensure no failure.

Behold: a 4-wheeled, mobile, modular, monstrosity and aberration of a strong table capable of carrying both internal weight as well as most tabletop-sized phonographs externally!

The Crosley portable turntable: found it at Goodwill just the other day! (thrift store)

it works! AND

1. It’ll work until the lights go out.

2. and most importantly: I have a quick go-to, modern, portable record player, instead of a key-wound, spring

3. machine to play records for a ‘quick check’ before cataloguing, thereby ensuring

   minimal

4. or next to no damag

e to the record

1. “But, sحiط, it was only 99¢!” -Macklemore… Haha, j/k… $12.99. Still, though! It works!

2. Another

3. lucky find in the stacks! It’s so clean and crispy looking! It may not have been played much.

Note: yes, those are wine and beer corks lol.. and they bear the load AND keep the friction for the ‘door’ to stay in place while nothing is resting on it.

Sadly its cracked but hey! Pretty cool.

5 machines
3 reproducer types
1 song

Her Beaus Are Only Rainbows - Fred Waring and his Pennysylvanians, 1926

A certified “toe tapper” this one is… had to test the VIC. II’s reproducer after the mica failed lol… so why not?

Order of appearance: VIC. II (Electrola Nr 4), VV-XVI (exh), VV-XIV (exh), VV-XVIII (Exh., & Albie lol), Waters Conley (ortho/no5 ish), VIC. II (Nr 4 & exh)

Have a wonderful day. Thank you for stopping by!

Note to self: make sure you check all their speeds first so all the edited cuts can stitch together nicely!

…and I’d like to sing a song for all of YOU…

Parting words: (you know game shows? I always thought it was “partying gifts” and I was like, why!? They just lost!)

IF you rebuild any Exhibition reproducer, or any reproducer with MICA for that matter, just double check and don’t think “oh, that little split on the edge will be ok”… OR you get a really great learning experience! 😏😂

… and have spare Exhibition NEW mica pieces to just do the job RIGHT the first time!^

^ one sure does learn a lot from making these mistakes, though! I’m more than happy to make them- I’m always more thrilled when I make less and less!

“It’s Christmas in Heaven”, Monty Python’s The Meaning of Life, 1989

1. Never start a land war in Asia (quote from “The Princess Bride”, also, yeah lol)

2. NEVER reuse a mica you think is PERFECT and “you should be ok”, especially if if you just can no longer SEE the annoying problem

I did that (#2… and NO, of COURSE I didn’t shطأ myself lol. I mean option 2, reusing a mica that I thought was “ok”.

(My brain inside: I don’t PAY you to just do OK!!!)?That’s why the sound was so vibratory… as for the metal… meh. Possible, though. I’ve seen some of the strangest pieces of metal resonate beautifully.

Wax: I agree with all- and honestly I was in a hurry; however, the way I do it in this case will “do ya”- it doesn’t have to be exactly perfect- but I prefer it that way lol. According to an old German version of repair AWC or someone posted a long time ago that mentioned something like running a bead of wax down a needle onto the needle bar… likely a soldering iron or hot tip of some kind…

Part 1 of 2!

Rockefella Skank, Fatboy Slim - excellent song!