such a great story. wish i was there. we're off to boston and NY in a week, for 3 weeks. when i return, i'll invite you and PW over for dinner, ok? it ain't no bowling alley, but... On Jul 23, 2007, at 12:06 AM, ClockworkHome at aol.com wrote: > That's odd, my July 19th post went in but nothing came back. That > is why I > was sure I had fallen off the electronic phonogram... here is what > I posted > (again just to see if it goes through): > > > John: > > Thanks for the Art Wilmoth story. I have heard them all since I > lived in San > Francisco at the time and was building my collection with wild > abandon. > > Art told of a story about a Mission Street music store that had a > large > selection of new old stock Edison Diamond Disc Recreations and a > huge amount of > phonograph parts including Victor reproducers and records from the > 1920's. Art > was still working through the Great Depression and had money to buy > something > each week. One day he went in to buy more items and the back of > the large shop > where there were tons of phonographic treasure was bare. The owner > told Art > he had taken it all to the dumps off 3rd Street and put it in the > bay. Art > never got over that. > > What surprised Art was the prices I was paying for machines. A > mahogany > Opera I bought for $125 had him saying, "I just don't know where it > will stop!" > He could not imagine the constant rise in prices. We were the best > of friends > and I still miss him dearly. Since we both were Edison collectors > we would > find things for eachother. I found him rare Diamond Discs and he > found me rare > machines he did not want. What was funny was that we both were > striving to > get all the Edison domestic models and he would call me because he > found a > machine that was too expensive for his taste but that I might want > it. This was > usually something like a Fireside B with Music Master Wood Cygnet > Horn for $275. > I wish Art were still alive and when I now rarely find something > special I > find myself reaching for the phone to call him. We always rejoiced in > eachothers finds. > > When the collectors died out of San Francisco so did much of the > joy in > collecting. At the high point 30 of us would meet for dinner at a > bowling alley > where Art would arrange the restaurant there to let us have the > banquet room. > Show and tell was always something. One collector would pop in > with a Victor > Monarch Special which would be sitting next to an Edison Hardy > tinfoil on one > side and an M electric Concert (Oratorio) on the other. The Victor > guys would > tell the Edison guys what they had found and vice versa so each > group could go > out to the antique stores named and pick up nice machines. I remember > telling one collector about a MacDonald AB or something like that. > He called me at > midnight one evening in an excited state to tell me thanks, the > machine had > some kind of mechanical amplifier which I forgot to tell him > about. My > ignorance on Victor and Columbia is astounding! > > Those were great days. My phone number in San Francisco was dialed > E-D-I-S-O-N-8 so I had all kinds of calls constantly to keep me > interested as many > antique shops shared the number with each other as a source of > phonograph and > Edison information. > > Sadly the only machines I rescued from a dumpster was a Victor > Othophonic > Credenza and a Seeburg jukebox. Both were great trade items. No > Edison stuff > ever came my way via dumpster. > > Best Wishes to all on the list and may your finds all be rare ones, > > Al > > > > > ************************************** Get a sneak peek of the all- > new AOL at > http://discover.aol.com/memed/aolcom30tour > _______________________________________________ > Phono-L mailing list > http://phono-l.oldcrank.org