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Post by Jersey on May 8, 2010 0:44:16 GMT -5
I was fortunate enough to win a rather intense eBay auction for my own birthday present. About a month ago I was hanging around some antique stores in a neighboring town close to where I go to school. I noticed a pair of Blue Amberol Edison cylinders, essentially the earliest of music records. I got into a nice conversation with the gentleman selling them, and he gave me a nice deal on the pair. So, now I had a new friend in the business who promised me further cylinders should I need them, and a newfound curiosity for phonographs. After a few weeks of casual research into the machines, I decided that I wanted to see about getting my hands on one. Not only are they valuable antiques that are worth quite a lot of money (a venture I commonly get myself into), but they're also a lot of fun. So I started looking around on eBay, and saw that they were usually running in the area of $500 for Standards and up to $2000 dollars for the rare ones. I figured that they would be out of my reach for quite a while. But then I happened upon an Edison Fireside, a harder to find model but not overly rare, that had low bid numbers. I watched it till the very end, and saw that it was only at about $260. I knew it would go up, so I bid $300 on it. I wound up winning it for $330, a hell of a bargain considering a machine like this one is worth $800 minimum. I opened it up today, and found it to be in excellent working order. It plays both 2 minute and 4 minute cylinders, a hard combination to come by no matter which machine you manage to come across. Here are some pictures:       And here's a video of the machine playing "Dance of the Hours". www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yhy8rQ9ARxw |
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Post by Blastgirl on May 8, 2010 1:38:09 GMT -5
Ok. I'm going to seem stupid with my questions because I don't know anything about these things other than to say that is absolutely a beautiful piece of furniture. Just how old is this beautiful antique that would cost about three times what you paid for it to even construct today. If you used real wood and brass.
How old is it?
And Thomas A Edison's signature on it does that mean it came directly from Edison's lab or is that a marketing brand?
What I mean is Classicblast's Mustang and Pick up truck were not actually built by Henry Ford but they have his namesake. Is that Edison brand of Phonograph or one actually made by Edison?
The clarity and condition is very good.
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Post by Jason O'Lewa on May 8, 2010 16:03:53 GMT -5
thats even before records I think.
my mom has a record player and I know records were made way back to the 1920s my grandma has some that only have 1 side to them.
this is a phonograph that jersey life has. Its probably closer to 1900 vintage. those play a cylinder type unit I dont know what theyre called but I have seen them displayed in tv documenterrys
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Post by Jersey on May 8, 2010 18:21:37 GMT -5
Ok. I'm going to seem stupid with my questions because I don't know anything about these things other than to say that is absolutely a beautiful piece of furniture. There are no such things as stupid questions when it comes to something you don't know anything about. Don't sweat it! Just how old is this beautiful antique that would cost about three times what you paid for it to even construct today. If you used real wood and brass. I'll seperate this question into two parts. Edison stopped manufacturing this type of cylinder phonograph around 1913, and the latest patent date on this one is 1905. That would put it, I'm guessing, around 1908. There is no 100% surefire way to know exactly when these machines were made, as the serial numbers are notoriously inaccurate. But it is most certainly not anywhere past 1913. As for constructing one of your own, there are two options. I can see the plausibility in constructing a phonograph wooden case (oak) from scratch, but the actual working phonograph gears and parts would have to come secondhand. Very few reproduction parts are being made for these machines, but there are some out there. Most often, you come across used parts that have been redone. This is often the case with reproducers; some reproductions are out there, but they are expensive to make. So what is usually seen are restored originals. The other course of action is to gradually acquire original parts from different machines, and cobble them together into one working unit. It may not be the prettiest machine out there, but if functionality is what matters, there you go. Cost? It depends on the parts. An original witches hat horn can run $180, and a used model C reproducer is not much cheaper. So the harder-to-find parts can drive up the cost pretty quickly. My guess? Depending on the machine, you could gather all the parts and have a working unit for around $600. And Thomas A Edison's signature on it does that mean it came directly from Edison's lab or is that a marketing brand? What I mean is Classicblast's Mustang and Pick up truck were not actually built by Henry Ford but they have his namesake. Is that Edison brand of Phonograph or one actually made by Edison? The clarity and condition is very good. Thomas Edison's signature is a trademark for the company he formed to manufacture and distribute these machines, The National Phonograph Company, which was founded in 1896 and closed right before the Great Depression in 1929. So, these machines were made by Edison's company, rather than Edison himself. Believe me, if this was a genuine Edison lab model constructed by Thomas Edison, it would be in a museum with a "priceless" sticker on it. It would be worth millions. So, to answer the question simply, its the Edison brand.  |
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Post by Beangirl on May 8, 2010 21:40:53 GMT -5
OMG Jersey you have some real treasures. Just beautiful.  |
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Post by Classicblast on May 8, 2010 22:05:44 GMT -5
That's fantastic. My father would love something like that.
I remember when my mother had albums that had pictures of those on the label I didn't really know what they sounded like until this blog of a phonograph though. Obviously you found a treasure though.
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Post by Phil on May 8, 2010 23:35:24 GMT -5
That's amazing. And it also kind of shows us how all along the way music has been so important to man that as soon as technology reaches another level music is included displayed here and then record players radios in cars and so on.
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Post by Blastgirl on May 9, 2010 1:12:31 GMT -5
Its a beautiful artifact without a doubt.
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Post by Phil on May 11, 2010 12:46:52 GMT -5
That's a treasure for sure.
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Post by Mahnarch on May 12, 2010 11:48:01 GMT -5
Wow. That's a nice find, man. I have a record player/stereo/8-track player from the early/mid 70s. Not quite what you have there but, now I'm getting a hankering to take it out of storage and clean it up! Also, you need to clean your vent.... |
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Post by Classicblast on May 12, 2010 22:49:52 GMT -5
I can imagine a radio station using that as it's method to play music. How terrific a thought.
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Post by Mahnarch on May 13, 2010 1:41:06 GMT -5
Commercial breaks and Bump Music would suck, though! HA!
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Post by Classicblast on May 14, 2010 23:15:14 GMT -5
I dont think radio had as much commercial as they do now. I'd have to think about that maybe they did. My father would just love that phonograph though. I do know that for a fact.
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Post by Phil on May 16, 2010 16:14:06 GMT -5
There was a pretty jamming tune or 2 that you played on that the other day.
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Post by Blastgirl on May 22, 2010 2:34:30 GMT -5
I still think that's a beautiful piece of furniture.
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Post by Jersey on May 23, 2010 0:08:24 GMT -5
Here's a video of the machine playing a funny cylinder. It's an Irish drinking song called "Clancy's Wooden Wedding". I included the lyrics in the dropdown box directly underneath for convenience, since it can be hard to make out what he's singing. It's still a funny cylinder even though its over a hundred years old and made of black, hardened wax of all things. (And I know not all the lyrics are 100% right. I filled in what I could.)
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Post by Blastgirl on May 23, 2010 1:37:53 GMT -5
Awesome. It's a little like CLANCY LOWERED THE BOOM. Its very nice and clear for something very old.
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Post by Mahnarch on May 23, 2010 16:09:47 GMT -5
Awesome......I can't understand a word...
Do you have the cylinder for "Who Let the Dogs Out?!" ?
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