[78-L] Fwd: Re: Vinyl Lovely Vinyl + 78s around Madrid

[Inigo Cubillo]

I just wrote this following a thread at ARSC-list, but also considered
interesting to share it herein.
---------- Mensaje reenviado ----------
De: "Inigo Cubillo" <ice261263 at gmail.com>
Fecha: 8/10/2016 2:21 p. m.
Asunto: Re: Vinyl Lovely Vinyl + 78s around Madrid
Para: "Association for Recorded Sound Discussion List" <
ARSCLIST at listserv.loc.gov>
Cc:

Actually in Madrid, and as far as I know, also in other big cities in
> Spain, the love for (second hand) vinyl has never died. Still, this is our
> era --for old-record collectors-- and herein and momentarily I want to
> align shellacophiles with vinyl collectors...
>
> There are a pretty bunch of shops here around dealing on second hand LPs
> and singles of all kinds and eras. The dozen shops I know in Madrid are
> alive since I was a teenager and started collecting. I, in fact, started
> with vinyl, and switched to 78s when I discovered them on one of the shops
> I frequented in search of old vinyl. I then found that these shops did
> usually have also 78s for sale. Ones on a steady basis, others only
> acquiring lots from time to time. Almost all them are still running.
>
> The other side of the coin is that many of them had quitted selling 78s in
> late years. But still four or five continue having a short supply from time
> to time. But they're now much scarcer.
>
> Madrid flea market is named "El Rastro". It is a very old tradition, and
> is set every Sunday morning in the same district, a dozen streets full of
> stalls. There are also many antique shops and goodwill stores in that
> district. So it's easy to identify which shops carry 78s steadily, or at
> least, occasionally. Stallholders are well known, always the same in the
> same places, so it's all also easy for a shellac chaser to center the shot.
> From time to time, collections appear for sale, and in those days, stalls
> and shops are flooded with shellac. But nowadays, things have changed. 78s
> are scarcer. This is a very specific market, and dealers are a small group,
> so it's easy to identify when an inheritance has been sold out, with a
> collection of 78s, divided into lots, is for some weeks seen around by the
> stalls and shops. But now, this happens only from time to time.
>
> I've also noticed in my latest visits that gramophones (mostly portables)
> have lowered prices. The most notable I remember, a recent near-mint 101 in
> blue, at an antique shop, for a mere $160, which was a real bargain. Pity I
> didn't buy it... But I already own two 101s, and the Management at home
> would have frowned angrily at the slightest notice of 'yet another one'...
>
> There must be a lack of interest among the public, or there are less
> collectors. I'm painfully thinking that 78 collecting, which seemed to us
> an eternal hobby, is going to be only a somewhat short living fashion.
> Old-record collecting started in the mid-20th century, and it seems that
> after three generations, less than a century, it is bounded to languish and
> die. Youngsters show some interest, but only archivists and related scholar
> people. What will be of our collections when we die? They will study 78s,
> transfer them, etc, but they will not ENJOY them, not to say... play
> shellac records on aggressive gramophones! Shellac records and cylinders
> will become museum pieces, full of 'historic value' but no more accessible
> to the public, except in digital form, and impossible to buy, touch, see,
> play... and enjoy them. But this is human civilisation!
>
> Resuming the plot, I've also noticed an increase in French shellac
> products at our flea market; I suspect there is a tendency among dealers to
> go chasing to the south of France, Marseille and the like, directly or
> through the web... for fresh supply. Late months there were lots of pathés
> and pathephones, also French 78s of other brands, mostly lots of 1930-1950
> records.
>
> Anyway, I will continue going there on Sundays and ask for 78s at the
> usual places, for showing an interest is vital to maintain the supply.
> Although I get a NO answer most of times, others I succeed, for some lots
> of shellac still appear. One must always ask...
>
> Another thing I discovered while chasing is the interest of asking for
> shellac at unusual places (book dealers, for instance). Sometimes the book
> dealers buy complete households for the books alone, and are forced to take
> the disc collections altogether. Being records somewhat out of their
> specialised scope, they are wanting to sell the records fast, if only to
> get rid of them. Most of times when asking at old book stores you'll get a
> NO for answer, but sometimes you hear YES, and take with you a real
> bargain. To be noted that I also collect classical 78s, and good classical
> record libraries used to go alongside good libraries...
>
> Saludos,
> Iñigo
>