The One Sided Records Arrive

[lennygoran]

Sue has some garden members over today for lunch-one member who lost her husband some years ago brought over these 20 or so records for me to keep-I don't even know if they'll play? Regards, Len
humoresque mischa ellman

boheme rudolph's narrative orville harrold

spanish dance number 8 kubelik

orpheus ballet act 2 stokowsky

valse bluette richard drigo heifetz

pierrot's serenade kubelik

the garden of sleep gogorza

gypsy lovesong werrenrath

keep the home fires burning john mccormack

dear old pal of mine john mccormack

rigoletto la donna mobile caruso

trovatore miserere caruso alda

celeste aida caruso

marriage of figaro I know not what I'm doing galli curci

laughing son bouronnaise galli curci

rigoletto caro nomegalli curci

romeo and gilietta valse galli curci

sonnambula could i believe galli curci

faust salut demeure martinelli

lucia thou has spread thy wings to heaven martinelli

boheme soave faniculla martinelli

trovatore il balen de luca

bring back my bonnie to me alma gluck

[maestrob]

Hi, Len!

Those 1-sided 78RPM discs are really rare, and a collector's dream. What a find! I have no idea of their value, but I know that they are really quite rare. Perhaps John has some ideas about how to deal with them. Would the library be interested? I know they need special equipment to play them, but if you can play the two-sided 78RPM discs, you can play these. We had an old console when I was growing up that could handle them.

[John F]

As maestrob says, those are pre-long playing records that play at 78 rpm instead of 33 rpm. That's not the only difference - the groove containing the sound is wider than in an LP. To play such records you need a turntable with 78 rpm speed and a cartridge with a stylus of the right size. And of course you need a sound system to plug the turntable into.

It happens that I have such a turntable and since I've given all my records to the library, I don't need it any more. Anyone out there, if you need this let me know and you can have it.

As for the value of those 78s, only a dealer could say, but I'd guess it's less than maestrob might think. The Carusos, for example, are great recordings, but they're probably a dime a dozen; Caruso and his records were so popular that a great many were sold, and of course they have been reissued on LP and CD which is how most people want them. However, it's possible that the sound archive at the performing arts library might accept them. You can contact the curator here:

Jonathan Hiam
Curator of Music & Recorded Sound
New York Public Library for the Performing Arts
40 Lincoln Center Plaza
New York, NY 10023

email: jonathanhiam@nypl.org

[lennygoran]

As maestrob says, those are pre-long playing records that play at 78 rpm instead of 33 rpm. That's not the only difference - the groove containing the sound is wider than in an LP. To play such records you need a turntable with 78 rpm speed and a cartridge with a stylus of the right size. And of course you need a sound system to plug the turntable into.

It happens that I have such a turntable and since I've given all my records to the library, I don't need it any more. Anyone out there, if you need this let me know and you can have it.

As for the value of those 78s, only a dealer could say, but I'd guess it's less than maestrob might think. The Carusos, for example, are great recordings, but they're probably a dime a dozen; Caruso and his records were so popular that a great many were sold, and of course they have been reissued on LP and CD which is how most people want them. However, it's possible that the sound archive at the performing arts library might accept them. You can contact the curator here:

Jonathan Hiam
Curator of Music & Recorded Sound
New York Public Library for the Performing Arts
40 Lincoln Center Plaza
New York, NY 10023

email: jonathanhiam@nypl.org

John I was tempted to try to play one on my turntable but decided I didn't want to risk ruining it or the recording-I see a few of what was given to me are available on you tube-for example this one-I have the record right in front of me. Regards, Len

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lW3CBVktGoc

[jserraglio]

I'd guess it's less than maestrob might think. The Carusos, for example, are great recordings, but they're probably a dime a dozen

A dime is more than I would pay for a dozen of the operatic items. I used to have a slew of these single-sided operatic shellacs and got rid of them long ago. Galli-Curci, Martinelli, Gluck, McCormack etc. and of course Caruso--all these were very common at the time and have been reissued in much better sound either by Universal or by vocal specialty labels like Pearl, Marston, Nimbus Prima Voce, Romophone, etc.

I hope I'm wrong, but suspect that in this instance old does not necessarily mean valuable.

[John F]

If you have a turntable that can play at 78 rpm, go ahead and play whatever you like on it. The sound will be poor as the LP 1-mil stylus rattles around in the 3-mil record groove but at least you'll be able to hear what you've got, however poorly.

My point is that the Carusos and probably many of the others are not rare, and of course it's rarity (and demand) that determine price. Which is not the same thing as value, of course. Oscar Wilde defined a cynic as "a man who knows the price of everything and the value of nothing," and I suppose that might be true of record dealers too.

[jserraglio]

Discogs - McCormack

https://www.discogs.com/sell/list?style ... ngle+Sided

Ebay - Caruso

https://www.ebay.com/itm/ENRICO-CARUSO- ... 3033017388

[lennygoran]

As for the value of those 78s, only a dealer could say, but I'd guess it's less than maestrob might think.

John how would I find a dealer? Regards, Len

[John F]

Google on "dealer 78 rpm records". You'll find that some dealers aren't interested in classical records while others are. You'll also find discouraging information such as I've already provided.

Larry Holdridge is a well-known dealer and one of the few I've found just now who will accept classical records. Have a look here.

http://www.holdridgerecords.com/

When approaching a dealer you will have to provide a list of what you're offering with much more detailed information than you've posted here. For example:

Emilio de Gogorza with orchestra
The garden of sleep (Isidore De Lara)
10 inch Victrola 64698 (matrix: B-19880)

Most of this comes from the label or, for the matrix number, is etched into the blank space just outside the label. For Victor records, the definitive discographic source is the Discography of American Historical Recordings at https://adp.library.ucsb.edu/index.php.

I'm not going to do this for you as it will probably be a waste of time, since I don't expect you'll be able to sell the records for much if anything. But if you like, you can post the detailed list here and I'll have a look.

[lennygoran]

. But if you like, you can post the detailed list here and I'll have a look.

John thanks for the offer-I'll probably not spend that much more time on this-ironically Sue and I will be seeing the owner of the records tomorrow at a garden and I'll tell her the bad news-I may reach out to the NYPL email you gave me at some point. Regards, Len