Hard to believe, but here it is!

[lmikecorbin]

I just happened to be looking at "Market Place" on the internet a week ago and saw someone who was selling an oil lamp on line with a picture. I noticed a small section of a wooden case and crank to the left of the lamp but barely in the picture. I knew that it was a Columbia crank and appeared to be a cylinder phonograph. The guy had no mention of photographs but I sent him a text anyway asking about the phonograph. I received a response later that evening stating that he was a retired antique dealer and he had a "bunch of phonograph parts", and if I wanted to come and see them I was welcome. Well, it was 20 minutes from home so I went over immediately and met the man who was cleaning out his garage with a ton of odds and ends. He told me that his wife said "that garage is the home of the cars, not all that junk", so he was getting rid of what was there. He showed me what he had and I probably was in shock but tried to remain calm. He said everything was for sale, as it all had to go. I asked him how much and he gave me a figure. I simply paid him and loaded up everything, said thanks, and went home. It took two trips in my jeep. Most everything was extremely dirty as it had been stored in a barn and moved to his garage 15 years ago. When I got them home, I started counting. I had 14 phonographs, 11 disc and 3 cylinder machines. A few were playable but most were missing parts. Here is the information that I have so far: (1) Columbia AN cylinder (1) Columbia Be cylinder (1) Columbia BG cylinder (2) Victor E (2) Victor M, different (1) Victor P1 (1) Victor P3 (1) Victor V (2) Columbia AJ Top Crank (1) Columbia AJ Side Crank and (1) Union disc machine. The Victor V and a few of the others are playable. Some are missing cranks, horns, or traveling arms and reproducers but only two have problems with the springs. I am truly amazed at what I found. Most will end up in my personal collection but I will have a Victor E for sale. I'll enclose some pictures here so you can see what I received. I've cleaned the dirt off of them but haven't polished the horns. There are other horns that I am working on that are not in the pictures and one two phonographs. I'll add them later. I hope you like my story. These things don't happen often but I'm glad they do occasionally. I will be looking for some parts very soon. Hope you guys might have some.

[phonogfp]

Congratulations!  Lightning surely doesn't strike like that very often, but it's memorable when it does!

 

I didn't see the AN Graphophone in the pictures...

 

George P.

[lmikecorbin]

I am sorry about that. The AN is being cleaned and put back together. I really like that one. I have an A but the AN has the N motor in it and it really runs smooth and quiet. I'm truly surprised that these phonographs are all ones which I didn't have and are not the common ones that are normally found. I just don't have room for all of them but I'll squeeze them in some how.  I now have a grand total of 75 and I'm really going to have to stop adding more. 🙂 I'll post pictures of it when I get it back together. I'm going to have to figure out where I can get some of the cylinder bedplates nickeled.

 

[phonogfp]

12 hours ago, lmikecorbin said:

 I just don't have room for all of them but I'll squeeze them in some how.  I now have a grand total of 75 and I'm really going to have to stop adding more. 🙂

 

 

😅

[lmikecorbin]

OK, I know. It's like eating potato chips, you can't just eat one. Once you get this wonderful history in your brain there is no stopping you wanting more.

[RodPickett]

There is always room for one more.

[phono-phan]

WOW!!! Congrats on hitting the mother load.  They all look like it won't take much to get them to play again. 

[Fran604g]

Congratulations on winning the lottery! 

[MisterJive47]

Oh

My

God

Talk about pure luck. Good for you! You just don't run into a hoard of early unrestored machines out in the wild like this much anymore. What a haul!

Congratulations!

[lmikecorbin]

I took a few pictures of my "Union" rear mount phonograph which I will include here. If you have any idea about who made it, where it was made, or anything about it please let me know. Also you can see that there are a number of pieces missing, including the crank escution (sp.). I didn't photograph the motor but it is a single spring motor. I didn't have time to unscrew it and remove it for photos. There are no names or plates on it. The spring has a five digit serial number (77546) which is the only number on the phonograph. One crack on the top which you can see in the first and last pictures is the only damage.

 

[lmikecorbin]

I said the spring had the number, but the number is actually on the top of the motor which is located in the center hole of the phonograph.

[Jerry]

It's made by Columbia as a "client machine". Finding parts shouldn't too hard since it's all Columbia stuff, however, even amongst Columbia parts, the late style tone arm and horn elbow that you'll need are not so common.

[lmikecorbin]

Thank you Jerry. I really appreciate the information. 

[BruceW]

Congratulations, what a find.  Have fun sorting through them and restoring them

 

Bruce

[Jerry]

On 11/6/2023 at 12:03 PM, lmikecorbin said:

Thank you Jerry. I really appreciate the information. 

This is the horn elbow and tone arm you would need. Shown on a late Columbia BII, but essentially the same thing.

https://forum.talkingmachine.info/viewtopic.php?f=9&t=56679