Those Purple Ones...

[neophone]

Gents,

I was chatting with Bill off-board recently about BA's. He told me about the Purple Amberols and how sought after they are. Well I decided to do a search last week on the 'Bay and found these right off, #29011 & #2967 When I found them they were both at $20.00 and I said to myself, well I found two right away and they aren't THAT expensive....... I'm eating crow now ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D

I sometimes wonder about some collectors. Even BA #5334, I'd really like that one, but that's too dear for me! I wonder what the reserve was? ;D

Regards,
J.

[gramophoneshane]

From what I've seen, you can expect to pay beween $60-$80 for a royal purple amberol. Sometimes a little more. They seem pretty popular with collectors, even though,IMO, they're often not fantastic songs on them. I'd prefer a few good Billy Murrays or Ada Jones cylinders myself. It's nice to have a couple in your collection though.

[rocky]

Wow! They even come with a purple box! I bet one could get a few bucks for the purple boxes, too.

I'd also like to have some orange Amberols for Halloween!......an orange cylinder box with a jack-o-lantern in the "o" of
Amberol.

;D
Rocky

[maroongem]

The first 5 of the Royal Purples(29001-29005) were released in 1913 as the Grand Opera Series and were blue in color. These were all direct recordings and sound fantastic!!!
When the Royal Purples were introduced in 1918, they re-released the first Grand Opera series and added 72 more to the set(29001-29077) Unfortunately, these other 72 were from DD dubs, and although there are a goodly number of opera in this new series, there are what I consider too many "duds" to justify the $1.00 extra that the Royal Purples cost.
It is easier to find the first 5 in the blue celluloid than the purple, and one that I own, 29044(rel 1920) is blue also, yet it should be purple! I don't know the reason for this.
If nothing else, the color is quite stunning, but the quality is no different than the blue ones.
The one that went for $283.00 is crazy, but then we have a woman on eBay now that is willing to pay up to a grand for electric DDs!
Go figure.......................

Bill