I also have a Wm and Mary. It sat in my parents' dining room for about 15 years. When my sisters started having babies, I turned the machine around to face the wall. 15 years later I turned it back around, and it was undamaged. By then, my teenager nieces and nephews expressed great surprise to find a phonograph sitting right in front of them all those years. I guess they just pictured it as some kind boring furniture, and never gave it a thought. My grill cloth is original, but somewhat tattered.
Maybe you should try to convince yourself that yours was torn by the original owner. I think I'd try to put some kind of cloth backing on it to hold it in place, if it looks halfway decent. I suspect that even a replacement cloth wouldn't detract too much from its value, except perhaps to a collector that only buys mint machines. Jim On Nov 9, 2005, at 7:40 PM, David Kirpich wrote: > Dear All, > > > > I have a William and Mary that is in Excellent. Recently we had a > friend of > the family over and their child. Unfortunately the parent had no > control > over the child and he proceeded to punch holes in the cloth > covering the > speaker which prior to that was in good condition and was the original > cloth. My question is should I replace it and if so with what type > of cloth. > How has it hurt the overall value of the phonograph? I have > attached a few > pictures of the player. > > > > > > > > David Kirpich > > [email protected] > > > > > > > > David Kirpich > > Expack Seafood -National Accounts > > Phone: 912-638-2041 > > Fax: 912-634-9508 > > [email protected]
