BARGAIN HUNTING

Vintage Musical Memories goes on the hunt for bargains at Richard Winterton Auctioneers near Lichfield in Staffordshire, as an array of gramophone records and associated equipment goes under the hammer on 30th April 2024. The items were apparently part of the fine collection of a devotee of early sound recording and listening devices, sadly no longer with us.

More than 4,000 bidders from all over the world regularly take part in auctions at the saleroom in Staffordshire, where live auctions are broadcast online and achieve record-breaking selling rates. Of course, Richard Winterton’s face will be familiar to viewers of BBC One’s Bargain Hunt (broadcast every weekday before the one o’clock news) and David Dickenson’s Real Deal on ITV1. The Winterton family has been auctioning items for seven generations, since 1864 when the family started in Smithfield livestock market in Lichfield. Whilst staying true to its family run ethos, the company has evolved and expanded ever since. Incidentally, Lichfield is the birthplace of Samuel Johnson (1709-1784), the great man of letters, famous for writing the very first dictionary in 1755.

Other famous residents of Lichfield include:

• David Garrick (1717-1779), the celebrated 18th century actor, who made his London debut in Richard III. Later, in 1749, he became the co-manager of the Theatre Royal Dury Lane and was buried in Westminster Abbey.

• Erasmus Darwin (1731-1802) grandfather of the more famous Charles.

• Italian-born composer Muzio Clementi (1752-1832) who’s known as ‘Father of the Pianoforte’ spent most of his retirement in the city. He famously played the piano in Paris in 1780 for Marie Antoinette and a year later in Vienna on Christmas Eve took part in a friendly piano dual with Mozart. Clementi was a shrewd businessman and co-founded a firm for both music publishing and the development and manufacture of pianos. He’s also buried in Westminster Abbey.

Back to the auction... For anyone interested, the full catalogue is available to view here - select the musical memorabilia from the panel on the left to focus on the desired topic. Of course, you'll need to register in advance in order to bid in person or online. It's a quick and easy process but best down before the auction day itself.

Among the most exciting auction lots are these wonderful items:

• Lot 410: BELLS IN SIGHT CYLINDER MUSIC BOX, in an ebonized burr wood veneered case – Estimate £250-£350 Update: The hammer price was £1050.

• LOT 901: EARLY 20TH CENTURY PALE OAK PARLOPHONE TABLE TOP GRAMOPHONE – Estimate £80-£120 Update: Our favourite lot and the hammer price was £850, out of the price range of VMM, sadly.
  

• LOT 908: TWO EDISON PHONOGRAPHS AND A BOX OF ASSOCIATED RECORDS – Estimate £100-£150 Update: This lot went of £500.

• LOT 911: VICTOR HIS MASTERS VOICE TYPE R COMPACT GRAMOPHONE, complete with horn Update: This item went of £620.

• LOT 912: EDISON OPERA PHONOGRAPH, type SM, model A, mahogany case has two swing handles either side – Estimate £500-£700 Update: This lot went of £1800.

• LOT 1212: 20TH CENTURY MAHOGANY 'HIS MASTERS VOICE' WIND UP GRAMOPHONE Update: this went for £70.

 VINYL VERSUS SHELLAC

There’s a vinyl revival going on at the moment, with global music artists like Adel, Taylor Smith, Paul McCartney and Ed Sherran regularly block booking factories to ensure worldwide demand for their latest album on the vinyl LP format can be met. But, to be honest, I’m more of a Shellac girl! Shellac predates vinyl and was used to produce gramophone records. Incidentally, Shellac has lots of other uses today, including in pointe shoes for ballerinas and false nails.

A (VERY) BRIEF HISTORY OF SOUND RECORDING TECHNOLGY

• Capturing sound and reproducing it focused the minds of the scientific community in earnest in the 1800s.

• In March 1857, the French inventor Edouard-Leon Scott de Martinville won the race to produce the first known sound recording device, the phonoautograph.

• Twenty years later, Thomas Edison came along with his phonograph.

• The word phonograph means sound writing and comes from the Greek word meaning sound or voice and graphe meaning writing, followed by the gramophone and record player/turntable.

• The word gramophone also has its roots in Greek: gramma meaning letter and phone meaning voice. Gramophone was a trademark initially, but by 1910 it was so popular it had become a generic term, backed up by the decision of an English court.

• German Emile Berliner inspired the transition from cylinders to flat discs as the most popular format for recorded sound. His discs had a spiral groove running from the edge of the disc to the centre, coining the term gramophone for disc record players.  

More Music Memorabilia Coming to Auction Soon...

There are more exciting auctions coming up at Richard Winterton's antiques centre, such as, in early May, the unique collection of sand dancing music hall legends Wilson, Keppel and Betty go under the hammer - click here for more details from the Auctioneer's own website.