The Worth Of Wax Cylinders

Before CDs, before LPs, even before 78s and 45s there were wax cylinders. And The Saturday Early Show's Collectibles Expert Tony Hyman says some of these music makers could be valuable.

Cylinders that are brown, pink, green or orange, or bigger than two inches, can be worth up to $200. Cylinders by opera singers, historical speeches, and blue cylinders with numbers over 5000 can be worth up to $500.

Don’t try cleaning or playing cylinders. Different types of cylinders require different types of needles and you can ruin them with one play with the wrong needle.

My advice: Sell every cylinder you own as fast as you can.

And the machines? Any cylinder player will have some value, even for parts. Complete, original machines, especially those with outside horns, are worth from $300 to more than $5000 for certain rare models.

Be careful when handling or moving cylinder phonographs; there are often loose parts that get lost or damaged which can drastically decrease the value of your phonograph. Cranks, lids, horn support arms, reproducers and horns are often missing and can be very hard to replace.

Cabinets designed to hold cylinders can be even more expensive than the phonographs themselves. Those with rounded fronts are most desirable, and can be worth as much as $2500.

Though cylinder cabinets originally had pegs to hold the cylinders, these have often been removed. If the drawer bottoms or shelves have rows of small holes or circles, then chances are it is a cylinder cabinet and worth some real money.