I am privileged to own his Zonophone Grand Opera, bought from another collector, and incomplete. It took me two years to complete, but it is one of the prizes of my collection. Jerry, you saw this machine last summer. I wish I could have known Mr. Davis.
My condolences, Jeff Wisconsin -----Original Message----- From: phono-l-boun...@oldcrank.org [mailto:phono-l-boun...@oldcrank.org] On Behalf Of DeeDee Blais Sent: Tuesday, September 18, 2007 2:52 PM To: phono-l@oldcrank.org Subject: [Phono-L] Passing of John Davis Our hobby lost a fine fellow with the passing of John Davis on 9/16/07. John was a mentor collector when I first started collecting back in the 70's. He always coached me to buy quality first and stay away from junk and duplicates. John was influenced by first generation collectors and he could never understand my attraction to uprights. He always laughed when I reminded him that I apply his advice and keep nothing but the most unusual Victrolas. He even found a Victrola XVIII for me but that was followed by..."I don't know why anyone would want it!". One of my favorite memories was a trip to Union with John in the late 1970's. There was a bit of "riverboat gambler" in him and he convinced me to jointly buy a fancy MS with big oak horn. Then we bought a brass bell horn, attached it to the MS and sold it for the original purchase price. It wasn't exactly turning lead into gold but it was fun to turn a brass horn into a wood horn. John had not been too active in the phonograph hobby for the last fifteen years but had been pursuing early light bulbs and related items. He had possibly the finest privately owned light bulb collection in the country. I will miss my good friend very much. Jerry Blais ________________________________________________________________________ ____________ Shape Yahoo! in your own image. Join our Network Research Panel today! http://surveylink.yahoo.com/gmrs/yahoo_panel_invite.asp?a=7 _______________________________________________ Phono-L mailing list http://phono-l.oldcrank.org From s...@clarphon.com Tue Sep 18 14:42:46 2007 From: s...@clarphon.com (stan stanford) Date: Tue Sep 18 14:46:29 2007 Subject: [Phono-L] Passing of John Davis References: <804514.74708...@web37002.mail.mud.yahoo.com> <6c7ea97ca5292848b80f204f38a7375204880...@mercury.prevea.com> Message-ID: <001b01c7fa3c$dca2ff80$6601a...@toshibauser> John was a very wonderful man who cared deeply for others. I have several objects in my collection that I purchased from him. The nicest is a beautiful Chinese painted paper machet horn for a cylinder machine. I always think of John when I look at this horn. stan stanford Portland OR ----- Original Message ----- From: "Jeffry Young, D.O." <jeff...@prevea.com> To: "Antique Phonograph List" <phono-l@oldcrank.org> Sent: Tuesday, September 18, 2007 2:12 PM Subject: RE: [Phono-L] Passing of John Davis I am privileged to own his Zonophone Grand Opera, bought from another collector, and incomplete. It took me two years to complete, but it is one of the prizes of my collection. Jerry, you saw this machine last summer. I wish I could have known Mr. Davis. My condolences, Jeff Wisconsin -----Original Message----- From: phono-l-boun...@oldcrank.org [mailto:phono-l-boun...@oldcrank.org] On Behalf Of DeeDee Blais Sent: Tuesday, September 18, 2007 2:52 PM To: phono-l@oldcrank.org Subject: [Phono-L] Passing of John Davis Our hobby lost a fine fellow with the passing of John Davis on 9/16/07. John was a mentor collector when I first started collecting back in the 70's. He always coached me to buy quality first and stay away from junk and duplicates. John was influenced by first generation collectors and he could never understand my attraction to uprights. He always laughed when I reminded him that I apply his advice and keep nothing but the most unusual Victrolas. He even found a Victrola XVIII for me but that was followed by..."I don't know why anyone would want it!". One of my favorite memories was a trip to Union with John in the late 1970's. There was a bit of "riverboat gambler" in him and he convinced me to jointly buy a fancy MS with big oak horn. Then we bought a brass bell horn, attached it to the MS and sold it for the original purchase price. It wasn't exactly turning lead into gold but it was fun to turn a brass horn into a wood horn. John had not been too active in the phonograph hobby for the last fifteen years but had been pursuing early light bulbs and related items. He had possibly the finest privately owned light bulb collection in the country. I will miss my good friend very much. Jerry Blais ________________________________________________________________________ ____________ Shape Yahoo! in your own image. Join our Network Research Panel today! http://surveylink.yahoo.com/gmrs/yahoo_panel_invite.asp?a=7 _______________________________________________ Phono-L mailing list http://phono-l.oldcrank.org _______________________________________________ Phono-L mailing list http://phono-l.oldcrank.org
