I've been following the MMD paper thread with interest and would like to
throw this in.  I have plenty of vintage rolls, and their condition and
playability vary greatly.  Sometimes I've even sworn I wouldn't buy any
more "old rolls" and would just stick to buying recuts.  Fortunately,
that's been one of my difficult-to-follow resolutions.

I can't always tell how old a particular roll really is.  I just played
a 65-note roll a few minutes ago, a Wagner overture, that was in
wonderful condition.  It's on that marvelous hard paper, and it has held
up far better than its box.  The last copyright stamped on the roll is
c1906.  I guess that means the roll and box could be as much as 99 years
old.  A very playable roll, no holes, great margins, no wobble.  But
other rolls that appear to be from roughly the same time and of the same
materials haven't held up as well.  Sometimes they appear to have been
roughly used, or at least heavily used.

Remember that Juelgo roll thread from a while back?  When I first got my
piano, twenty-some years ago, it came with a ton of those particular
rolls.  To the extent that they were playable, I liked many of them.
Finally though, because the paper was so mushy and they played so
poorly, I just discarded them.  Now I wish I hadn't done that; they
might at least have been scannable.

I want to say to those who are active in scanning rolls, thank you!
You're performing what we'll increasingly see as a great service.

Paul Murphy