I would expect that there are a number of collectors with long experience who may not have yet been exposed to the changes Ebay has brought about in the dynamics of the market for phonographs. When they seek to "cash out," it's going to be a bit of a surprise.
A friend with a large collection was forced to sell it all off due to an unpleasant divorce in around 1992. At the time, he was just sick about it. Today, he often says how lucky he was to get out before Ebay decreased values. The same collection today would have netted far less. Are our machines good investments? Probably better than shares of Palm Pilot, but worse than real estate. Scott On Aug 24, 2005, at 10:02 PM, [email protected] wrote: > Hello, Greg: > > I cannot speak for the "high-rollers," in the hobby, but from my > perspective, phonographs have not been a particular good > "investment." For many years, I > was a sucker for beautiful, Diamond Disk Laboratory models. Most > of the "Lab > Models" I own, or have owned in the past, are worth little, if > any more > than they were in the 1970's, when I bought most of them. The > truly rare > machines, and more desirable open-horn machines have appreciated > consierably, but > the "ordinary" phonos have not gone up all that much. > > I think ebay is partly responsible for this. Quite a few people, > myself > included, found out that our machines are not as rare as we > thought, and prices > have drifted downward for a number of years. My Triumph Model A is > a good > example of this. For years, I could say I owned the only one I'd > ever seen. Hah! > Now, I realize that I just don't get out much. > > Some of my records are another matter. The more desirable titles > and numbers > have done quite well, from a "speculator" point of view, but that > was just > dumb luck. > > Randy Minor > _______________________________________________ > Phono-L mailing list > [email protected] > > Phono-L Archive > http://www.oldcrank.org/pipermail/phono-l/ >
