I was in an antique mall in Detroit last weekend and a guy had 8 machines in his booth with exactly twice the current retail on all of them. The mall owner told he hasn't sold one in the 2 years he's been there. Whats the point of renting space, then..
--- Robert Wright <[email protected]> wrote: > "----- Original Message ----- > From: <[email protected]> > > > > I would never advise anyone to collect anything as > an investment. Any > hobby > > should be done for the enjoyment, not for > financial gain. > > > The key with ANY collectable -- phonographs, > coins, watches, whatever -- > is > > to buy the best you can afford. > > > Where eBay has led to declines in values is on the > most common items. > There's far more > > supply than demand and prices have sunk as a > result. > > > But at the higher end it's another story. Want a > Class M? A Columbia > > Graphophone Grand? An Edison Excelsior? A > Zonophone B? Good luck!" > > I couldn't agree more, and how eloquently stated. I > don't want to inflame > any member of the community I revere and respect by > saying the following, > but I honestly doubt that I will: all eBay has done > is bring knowledge and > truth into the equation. It has allowed the market > to regulate itself. > Dealers who used to charge $1000 for a $400 machine > simply can't sell them > anymore, and I think that's a very, very good thing! > Common machines have > been 'found out' as common machines, and almost all > collectors are much more > market-educated than ever before because of eBay > (except the high-end guys, > like most of the folks on this list -- they're the > ones educating the rest > of us). > > I think Kurt Nauck's is simply the best vintage > record auction that has ever > been, run by honestly one of the kindest, smartest, > and without question, > most honest people I've ever been blessed to meet > and get to know. Just a > couple of years before eBay, I bid $1000 on a 10", > 78rpm, RCA Victor picture > disc of Enrico Caruso and ended up winning it for > just over $600. That > means that of all his customers, someone else out > there wanted it $600' > worth at the time. I've watched that same record go > on eBay for $150 - $175 > at least 10 times in the last 5 years. Do I feel > duped by Kurt Nauck? > Absolutely not! Am I sore that my "investment" > (which I never intended to > resell) didn't maintain the value of the amount I > paid? Not particularly, > mainly because of two reasons: one, thanks to eBay, > I was finally able to > buy one of the very first Path? discs for $300 > instead of the $750 I'd seen > them for in pre-eBay auctions; and two, because of > the dissemination of > truth regarding common-vs-rare records through eBay, > non-eBay auctioneers > and dealers have had no choice but to bring their > prices down (in Kurt's > case, where the records' minimum bids are already > way beneath reasonable, > bidders simply bid less now than they used to), > because people aren't ever > going to pay $100 for a disc they can find on eBay > for $20. The only thing > that seems unfair is that Kurt's auctions bring in > slightly less money than > they used to for the same amount of work, but he's > such a rare case as an > honest man that I think the trade off of gouge-'em > dealers losing their > shirts makes it less painful. I mean, at least > we're finally dealing with > the truth! > > And if the truth is that a particular phonograph is > common enough to only be > worth $400, eBay is the chief reason that a) I'd > know that to begin with, > and b) would be able to readily find one at that > price -- its true and > honest price. > > I will say this, however -- if we get one more > single postage stamp > increase, I'm gonna let the USPS have it. For > however many people stopped > mailing letters because of e-mail, there's been at > least half of them > spending ten to fifty times as much on postage to > ship eBay winnings back > and forth. I had never had occasion to ship so much > as one single package > in my life up to age thirty, but since eBay > happened, my yearly spending on > shipping has hovered around a grand a year. And I > never really sent letters > much. > > Man, do I enjoy being on this list! My best to you > all. > > -Robert > > > _______________________________________________ > Phono-L mailing list > [email protected] > > Phono-L Archive > http://www.oldcrank.org/pipermail/phono-l/ > __________________________________________________ Do You Yahoo!? Tired of spam? Yahoo! Mail has the best spam protection around http://mail.yahoo.com
