MackeyBlue on 12th Street in Hoboken is a fun store with all sorts of antiques and knicknacks that won’t break the bank. Last week, the store had an old record player outside selling for a little over $100, manufactured by the Starr company of Richmond, Ind. Starr became famous for manufacturing pianos, then founded a record label, Gennett, in whose studios the early jazz greats recorded. The town of Richmond still boasts about its jazz history. In 1917, the company began manufacturing phonographs, and continued to do so through the 1920s.
So what of this particular phonograph outside the store in Hoboken?
A few days after the record player was on sale at MackeyBlue, the store was closed for the day and the machine seemed to have been put out by the curb (see photos). It’s a shame – I’ll bet it’s got stories to tell! Well, I have sneaking suspicion that by now, someone with an eye for history already carted it off.
The saga of the old phonograph
