On the left is Gardel's gold monogram from his wallet above. 
His monograms adorned all of his personal objects.  Owned by: Casa del Teatro Argentina.

Gardel's favourite cigar/cigarrette box made in France in the 1920's in the art-deco style. This peace of furniture used to occupy the top of the dining room table in his house at 735 Jean Jaurés.

Gold lighter custom made for Gardel by a Parisian jeweler. His name is engraved across the lighter. The bottom of the lighter is badly burned as the result of the tremendous fire in which Gardel perished as the result of the Medellin tragedy on June 24, 1935.

Assorted combs, brushes, a hook for undoing his shoe laces without the need for bending down and a shoe horn. All of these items are monogrammed. These personal belongings were also rescued from the Medellin airplane crash. Owned by: Casa del Teatro.

Left: Diamond encrusted ring Gardel gave to his mother. 
It can be seen in the "Casa de Teatro" museum in Buenos Aires.
Right: One of Gardel's Steamer trunks (baúl). Up to a dozen trunks 
could be used for his overseas trips.

Gardel's Karl Zeiss binoculars which he religiously brought with him to each horse racing event. He spent a lot of money on horse racing, even owning a number of horses. In his last few years, he would complain about how much money he has blown on this sport and tried to curb his spending.

Gardel's photo from the Movie "Tango Bar" dedicated to his friend Francisco Maschio, care taker of his racing horses. The photo is signed: New York, March 22, 1934.
In this photo, Gardel appears with his favourite binoculars. 

Three cheques used by Gardel in New York in 1934. You will notice that only the signature is his. Due to his poor domination of English, he had someone else complete the rest of the cheque. The top cheque is for a passage to Europe on the steamer Bremen and the second one is for his rent at "Beaux Arts Apartments" in New York.

Gardel's Agenda from June 1929. It is owned by a well-known Gardel collector, Angel Olivieri. 
Here are the excerpts from the notes for the next day:
10:30AM - Recordings at Odeon. By luck today we finish the series. 
14:00 "Pica-terra" stew with the skinny Allipi and the Frenchman Laurent in the "Tropezon".
Dinner with Isabel at "Chantecler". 
See Maschio and find out if there is anything (a horse) worth betting on.
Tomorrow morning Legui (Leguisamo) will be waiting for me at Palermo (race track). 
Tell Aviador (his chauffer) to drive me in the Graham (his Graham-Paige car).
Some experts say that the above agenda is a falsification.

Sombrero de Gardel. Colección: Susana Rinaldi
Museo de la Academia Nacional de Tango, Buenos Aires

Someone from Spain had this Gardel signed photo on sale on eBay for the ridiculous sum of $CDN6200.
It is a 1930's photo by Gardel's Uruguayan photographer De Silva. Unlike the artists of today, 
Gardel was his own promoter and would carry a bunch of these photos with him for his fans. 
(The caption says: Dedicada a mis dos grandes amigos, Oscar y Eduardo).

See also:  Gardel's gold cigarette case, owned by Horacio Galli, Buenos Aires

Un llamado a los colecciónistas de Gardel
¿Si fuesen tan amables de contactarnos si poseen canciones no públicadas del Zorzal? 
Nuestro objétivo es únicamente de confirmar su exístencia sin el compromiso de compartir la música.

• Collecting Gardel:

  • Los Coleccionistas, (The collectors) Club de Tango magazine, Dec. 1994 (in Spanish)

  • Gardel Collectors: 

    • Best known:  

      • Bruno Cespi (78). Owns the most impressive collection of Gardel photos. His photos have graced the pages of books, magazines and newspapers over many years. He is rumoured to own various unpublished Gardel songs. Cespi also owns the complete, original Gardel 78rpm record collection.
        Posee la colección más impresionante de las fotos de Gardel. Sus fotos han sido publicadas en las páginas de libros (ej. "Carlos Gardel En Imagenes" por Roberto Daus), de revistas y de periódicos durante muchos años. Se supone que posee varias canciones inéditas de Gardel. Cespi también posee la colección completa y original de Gardel en discos de pasta de 78rpm.

      • Héctor Lorenzo Lucci (77). President of Los Coleccionistas de Tango. Lucci produced on Long Play C.B.S. Columbia Record Nº 20-619 "Carlos Gardel, sus primeras grabaciones. Año 1913" in 1985, 50th anniversary of Gardel's death. He has also published books on Tango and collects phonographic instruments and the oldest Tango recordings.
        Presidente de Los Coleccionistas de Tango. En 1985, por el 50 aniversario de la muerte de Gardel, Lucci produjo el disco Long Play para C.B.S. Colombia "Carlos Gardel, sus primeras grabaciones. Año 1913", Nº de registro 20-619.  Ha publicado libros sobre Tango y colecciona los instrumentos fonograficos y las más antiguas grabaciones del Tango.

      • Angel Olivieri (1920-2008). Born in 1918 and died on Dec. 26, 2008. Owns many Gardel items such as original music sheets, photos, unpublished songs, Gardel's engraved Longines 24k gold watch, etc. Among others, he owns the only copy of Gardel's march song "Adelante" which someone copied from him in secret. Olivieri has lent part of his Gardel memorabilia to Gardel House Museum. He has declared that he will donate his collection to Gardel museum.
        Posee muchos artículos de Gardel como hojas originales de la música, fotos, discos con canciones inéditas, reloj de Gardel de oro Longines de 24k, etc. Entre otras, él posee la unica copia de marcha "Adelante" de Gardel que alguien copió de él en secreto. Olivieri ha prestado una parte de su coleccion de Gardel a La casa museo Carlos Gardel.Tambien ha declarado que obsequiara toda su colección al museo de Gardel.
        Diario El Clarin del 21 de septiembre de 1998.
        Nació el 4 de abril de 1920 y cuando sólo tenía seis años de edad su tío, eximio pianista del inolvidable Cuarteto Vocal Buenos Aires, lo sentaba al lado del piano durante las actuaciones. Don Angel Evaristo Olivieri asegura que a esa edad se despertó su admiración por Carlos Gardel y por la música, lo cual le permitió convertirse en un respetado biógrafo del Zorzal Criollo y en poseedor de la mayor cantidad de efectos personales de Gardel, desde contratos firmados en París en 1932, junto con Alfredo Le Pera y Horacio Pettorossi, su famoso reloj de bolsillo, su galera, su gacho gris de ala requintada, su "lengue" blanco, cartas enviadas a su eterna novia, Isabelita Del Valle, y la cantidad más impresionante de fotografías inéditas.
        -¿Cómo conoció a José Razzano? -Era amigo de mi padre y venía una vez por semana a cenar a casa. Un hombre extraordinario. Me contó cosas que jamás olvidaré, como, por ejemplo, aquella gira que Gardel, Enrique de Rosas y Matilde Reguera hicieron por España en 1923, y que terminó en Toulouse, Francia, donde Carlitos les presentó a su madre, dando por tierra con la versión de que Gardel era uruguayo.

      • Hamlet Peluso (1930-2008). Born in Buenos Aires in 1930 and died in 2008. In 1951, he began as Gardel collector and historian on the life and work of Carlos Gardel, obtaining original and unique test masters, films, photos, letters, cheques, documents, contracts and singer's belongings. Also the newspapers and magazines of the era and his bibliography. He has co-authored the book "Gardel y la prensa mudial" (Gardel and the world press), which has a wealth of press clippings about Gardel's career.
        Nació en Buenos Aires en 1930 y falleció en 2008. En 1951 se inició como coleccionista y estudioso sobre la vida de y obra de Carlos Gardel, acopiando sus discos originales y de "prueba", películas, fotografías, cartas, documentación, cheques, contratos y pertenencias del cantor. También diarios y revistas de la época y su bibliografía. Edito el libro "Gardel y la prensa mundial" que incluye un gran numero de recortes periodísticos de la carera artística de Gardel.

      • Fabio Cernuda bought all of Néstor Larco's collection and is therefore considered one of the biggest Gardel collectors now, probably on par with above four collectors. 
        Despues de la muerte de Néstor Larco, Cernuda compró la mayor parte de su coleccion y con ese hecho se lo puede considerar al par con los 4 coleccionistas principales.

      • Osvaldo Sosa Cordero was the greatest collector, and more important than the four mentioned above and was  even professionally linked to Gardel. More than an obsessive gardelian collector, he was a contemporary of Gardel. He knew Gardel and recounted interesting anecdotes of his work with Gardel and the Armenian orchestra director Kalikian Gregor when Gardel recorded his French pieces.

      • Néstor Larco, who recently passed away. Professionally, he was an acoustic engineer so his collection is considered to be of highest quality. He had one of the best Gardel collections in the world including the complete collection of Gardel's acoustic records. Most of his acoustics were used for the "Todo Gardel" collection. Speaking of being a Gardel fanatic! After Larco found out that the taped copies of his acoustics were being used for "Todo Gardel" without his permission, he had a heart attack and died. His son recently sold everything Larco owned to collector Fabio Cernuda in Buenos Aires. 
        Néstor Larco recientemente fallecido. Profesionalmente, era ingeniero acústico así que su colección se consideraba como de más alta calidad. Poseía una de las mejores colecciones de Gardel en el mundo incluyendo la colección completa de los discos acústicos de Gardel. La mayoría de sus acústicos fue utilizada para la colección de "Todo Gardel". ¡Larco fue considerado como fanático de Gardel! Después de que Larco descubrió que las grabaciones de sus discos acústicos eran utilizadas para "Todo Gardel" sin su permiso, le dio un ataque al corazón causándole la muerte. Su hijo recientemente vendió todas las posesiones de Larco al coleccionista Fabio Cernuda en Buenos Aires.

      • Horacio Loriente (b. 1916-), one of the original founders of the "El Club de la Guardia Nueva" in Uruguay. From his excellent 78rpm discs, "Gardel Serie para coleccionistas" (Gardel Collectors Series) collection was produced on 32 disks by Odeon. Later, Loriente produced the "Gardel-Razzano Serie Acústica" (Gardel-Razzano Acoustic Series) consisting of 12 disks. He donated his Gardel record collection of 800 78rpm songs to UNESCO. 

      • Boris Puga, who wrote the initial and fundamental discography on Gardel and lent his 78rpm Gardel collection for the production of "Todo Gardel" collection.

      • Rubén Carlos Gonzalo, who loaned his complete Gardel 78rpm disc collection to EMI Odeón Argentina for the reproduction of their “Vida y obra de Carlos Gardel” 33RPM collection (1970-84).

      • Sebastián Carlos Pastorino "Goyito". Obtained most of his collection from Armando Defino. He was a friend of Gardel from Abasto days (1913). 
        Recibio casi toda su coleccion de Armando Defino. Fue amigo de Gardel de los tiempos de Abasto (1913).

      • La historia discografica de Carlos Gardel, por Jorge Favetto. Revista Tanguera 1962.

        • Una serie fabulosa de discos se le atribuyen a CARLOS GARDEL. Por el coleccionista Jorge Favetto

      • Rolando Chaves, (1919-1995) actor, singer and collector who in 1983 discovered Gardel's English language version of "Cheating Muchachita".

      • Pedro Petrucci segun Olivieri ("quien eran un famoso coleccionista de la obra del Morocho del Abasto allá por el año 1930").

      • Enrique Ruiz Daudet. One of the early Gardel collectors. Gardel presented him with some of his test records. Uno del los coleccionistas iniciales de la musica de Gardel. Gardel le regaló a Daudet algunos de sus discos de prueba.

      • Gilbert Mamery, (1927-2003). Puerto Rican and renowned Gardel collector passed away on March 30, 2003. El veterano locutor y coleccionista de Gardel, Gilbert Mamery, falleció 30 de marzo de 2003. 

      • Roberto Di Chiara, collects Gardel films. He supposedly owns the only copy of Gardel's film "La casa es seria" but the film is in a state of decomposition and cannot be restored. According to Daniel Di Chiara, his father has had the film in his possesion for the past 50 years. How do we explain the fact that they did not attempt to restore the film during all those years? Would they have not tried to capitalize on their unique copy and tried to market it? I personally doubt that they have this firm. The recent reports in the Argentine newspapers even indicate that their reporters have seen the film which cannot be true. According to Gardel contemporaries who have seen that film, it has not been seen in Argentine theatres since the 1940's. One witness, famous collector Rubén Carlos Gonzalo, confirmed that he last saw the film in 1938.

    • Other collectors:

      • Horacio Galli, owns Gardel's gold cigarette case. He has it for sale on this site. Click on the link to check it out.

      • Juan José Fenoglio, Jorge Favetto, Horacio Loriente, Rolando Chaves.

      • José "Pepe" Blotta y una de sus mayores pasiones: Carlos Gardel. El Civismo, Lujan.

      • La Tienda de Jacobo, Buenos Aires shop where you can find the best known Gardel collectors
        (la tienda donde se reúnen los mejores coleccionistas gardelianos de Buenos Aires)

  • My Gardel Collection: music, artists' signatures, movie programs and books:

    • Razzano, Barbieri signatures and First Day Covers Issues (1985 and 1995)

    • Gardel - Buenos Aires Movie Programs from 1936-1949

    • Carlos Gardel Poster

    • Here is a Carlos Gardel - 78RPM, 52 Record Collection I purchased on eBay in August 2002. These are 78RPM records from the late 1930's, all of them produced after the life of Gardel.

    • Gardel Inedito. Two CDs of never before released music. Released in 1999 and 2001 and remastered by EMI/Odeon Abbey Road Studios in Great Britain by internationally known Audio Restoration Engineer Andrew Walter.