We are Kevin Adams and Joel Straley, owners of Rose and Gracey’s Antiques. Since 1986, we specialized in the restoration of antique phonographs and talking machines. The following is a little history about how we got started in antique phonographs.

In 1984, we purchased a 1921 Sonora Elite phonograph with a Bombay cabinet and a mahogany tone arm. After six months of playing perfectly, one of the Sonora’s springs broke. Kevin repaired the broken spring and turned the broken spring dilemma into the start of an antique phonograph obsession.

The obsession was fueled when we purchased an oak 1915 Victor Victrola XVI painted orange with its parts in neatly label bags at a local auction for $35. The Victrola XVI restoration took nearly a month but the machine looked as though it had rolled off the factory floor. Excited by the results of the Victrola XVI restoration, we decided to expand the hobby into an antique phonograph business.

In 1986, we created Rose and Gracey’s Antiques. The business inventory was small and consisted of the restored Victor Victrola XVI and some attic items from our mothers, Rose and Grace. Since our mothers contributed to the business inventory, it seemed only fitting to name the business after them.

In 1996, we decided to try the Internet as a means for displaying our antique phonographs. We created the web site TalkingMachines.com and have since sold machines all over the world.

Years later and hundreds of restored phonographs later, we've had a lot of pleasure restoring some of the most magnificent musical reproducing machines ever invented.