Featured Phonograph: Amberola 50

[NateO]

MODEL:  Amberola 50
SERIAL #:   16
YEARS MADE: 1915- mid 1920s   
COST:   $50
CASE/CABINET SIZE:  16 ½ in. high, 16 ¾ in. base x 22 in. per Frow
TURNTABLE:   ---
REPRODUCER:  Diamond C (Serial number 3125) 
MOTOR:   Double spring
HORN DIMENSIONS:   Internal, 10 in. x 8 in. (per Frow)
REPRODUCTION PARTS:   None
CURRENT VALUE:   Unknown
INTERESTING FACTS : Possibly the earliest surviving Amberola 50

 

Alright guys, I know the Amberola 50 probably isn’t the most interesting machine out there to make my first featured entry. I promise it’s worth it. As George suggested in his post on the Victor III, this Amberola really fits the bill of “a common machine with an unusual feature.”

 

According to George Frow, the Amberola 50 was introduced in June 1915 at $50, with 350 machines sold in that first month. Over the life of the Amberola 50, it was subject to several price increases, reaching a high of $68 in 1918 before finally reverting back to the original $50 price in April 1923. From the Amberola 50s I’ve observed in my research, the serial numbers indicate over 42000 units made. Certainly a respectable run.

 

What makes this machine special? Quite frankly, it really shouldn’t exist. After the devastating fire of December 1914, the Edison Phonograph Works were doing all they could to get production up and running. This resulted in a number of post-fire hybrid models, using whatever survived to get phonographs out the door. Per George Frow, Edison was left with 859 cabinets on order for the Amberola V. Since they were obliged to accept these 859 cabinets, the company decided to fit them with the new Amberola 50/75 mechanism and ship them as the Amberola B-V, beginning in May 1915 at a price of $65. It was the perfect solution, the 859 cabinets would be used up, and life could move on. But were all the Amberola V cabinets really used on the B-V? Apparently not...

 

This Amberola 50, the 16th machine off the line, is housed in a mahogany Amberola V cabinet. Instead of the standard Amberola V wood grille, it sports a painted metal grille similar to the one used on the Amberola VI. In my burgeoning Amberola 30/50/75 database, this is the lowest serial number I’ve found to date. The next lowest, number 41, is also housed in a mahogany Amberola V cabinet. But #41 is missing the pinstriping visible here on #16. Evidently the pinstriping was not very long lived in Amberola 50 production. My Amberola 50 is effectively a B-V, even though it isn’t labeled as such. I find myself wondering what came first, the earliest 50s, or the B-V?

 

Sure, the Amberola 50 is a common machine that doesn’t excite much collector interest. But I think this example is unique enough to deserve to be featured. It’s a cool window into a very desperate time in the life of the Edison phonograph.

 

 

[phonogfp]

It doesn't get much better than a machine that isn't supposed to exist!

 

I suspect that during B-V production, the decision was made to re-name it the Amberola 50 in order to simplify the Amberola line to those 3 basic models (30, 50, and 75).  Once the old V cabinets were exhausted, the conventional 50 cabinet was sent out.  That's my theory anyway!

 

Very interesting, Nate!

 

George P.

[Jerry]

Thanks Nate! What a cool example and with a lot of Edison history behind it. It would be easy to cast off as a Frankenphone were it not for your great research! It is truly a special machine.

 

Quote

... the Amberola 50 is a common machine that doesn’t excite much collector interest. But I think this example is unique enough to deserve to be featured ...

 

In my view, no machine is too common to post here as long as it has a special place in someone's collection. Every machine has a unique story to tell, but the story is not often known. When it is, such as with your 50, it makes any machine special.

 

Thanks!!

 

 

 

 

Edited May 18 by Jerry

[Tinfoilphono]

One of the things I love about this hobby is that no matter how long you're into it, there's always something new to discover. Great research, Nate!

[NateO]

Thanks all! This is one machine I'm definitely proud to own. In fact, it may even be my favorite just because it's so unique. It was a lucky Facebook marketplace find, and I'm deeply indebted to some fellow collectors who helped get it to me!

[Valecnik]

Another featured machine here with the narrative starting out something like, ", I know the xxx machine (in this case Amberola 50) probably isn’t the most interesting machine out there but...."  when in fact it is really interesting, not just the low serial number but also a clear demonstration of how Edison didn't just put out new models periodically but rather transitioned, making the best use of what was available. 

 

Thanks for sharing Nate!

[Andrew]

I would like to add something here that will help to paint a broader picture of Edison production situations and realities. First, I want to say how sincerely I appreciate Nate's posting. It's exactly for the reason of reaching and teaching others who share our interests and passions, that we do this. The posting is also timely, because quite coincidentally, I was offered one a first-generation Amberola 50, serial number 67, a week after this posting appeared in the Forum. 

 

Here's what I can add. My Amberola s.n. #67, would have been made around the fourth day of Amberola 50 production, depending on how you interpret published production targets and schedules. Although it appears to have been made AFTER s.n. #41, it does have the pinstripe on the governor cover, in addition to all of the other attributes of s.n. #16. Since the stripe is overpainted on the more durable fired enamel(?) surface, the stripe on #41 may have been polished off, or if #41 is otherwise in a fine state of preservation, its governor cover either slipped past QC minus its hand-painted detail, OR as the case often is, a production change decision to eliminate the stripe was made sometime during the first batch, after all of the components were being assembled into complete machines. 

 

For example, if parts had been made for the first 100 machines (hypothetically), you might have bins of hardware, a stack of serial number plates, a pile of motors, horns, reproducers, and governor covers, and waiting cabinets to accommodate the subassemblies. Now picture no fewer than two complete stations with factory workers assembling the parts. In most manufacturing, redundancy of assembly groups is the norm, both for efficiency of production, and so that the initial trained worker groups can be the template for subsequent groups, as the production and demand (hopefully for the company) expands. If a decision to stop painting the gold stripes on the governor covers came through after fifty were made, the next batch of covers without the stripe would have been thrown in with the first group, and it's unlikely anyone would have specified to use only the striped ones first.

 

Would love to hear back from Nate and anyone else who might further illuminate this history.

Andrew Baron

Santa Fe, NM

 

 

[NateO]

Andrew,

Congratulations on finding and purchasing #67! Would you be willing to share some photos of it here? I’ve been slowly compiling a database of Amberola 30/50/75s and try to save images of each one I record in the database. I’d love to see yours. I haven’t recorded many early 50s. Aside from 16, 41 and now 67, the next earliest I’ve seen is 440. 

 

I’ve attached images of #41 here. Unfortunately, they aren’t the best quality, but there’s enough there to confirm it’s an Amberola V style cabinet like #16 and your #67. 41 does have the Edison signature decal but based on the photos it didn’t appear to me to have had the full striping. This one was listed briefly on ebay a few months ago. I don’t know if it sold or the listing was pulled, but it was not up long. From my observations on the Amberola 30, the earliest machines (up to about 10,000) had the full striping on the bedplate and gear cover, then machines started switching to only having the signature decal on the bedplate, before it disappeared entirely.

 

I wouldn’t be surprised if you’re right and these machines were assembled in the way you suggest. I know surveys have been done in the past on other Edison models, and the results showed that changes in features were done gradually, with older parts being used up and intermixed with new parts. Not to mention these early Amberola 50s would have been assembled at a very chaotic moment for the Edison company. It’s a wonder they got these out at all. The biggest question I have is what came first, these Amberola 50s or the virtually identical Amberola BV?

Edited Friday at 12:05 AM by NateO
Attaching photos

[Andrew]

Thanks Nate for your reply. It's on my task list to provide you with some photos of this phonograph. Unfortunately for the machine and its factory aniline dye finish, the prior owner's father stripped the cabinet, apart from the inside of the lid, and then varnished the bare wood back in the '50s.

 

Fortunately for me, he didn't apply a blonde finish that would require additional and harsher removal! Otherwise, it's a solid survivor with an undamaged and complete cabinet, including the metal grille. The internals are dirty and dull. I have them out at this time in preparation for performing a sensitive cosmetic restoration, and for cleaning and lubrication. There's also a problem with the winding that I need to address.

 

It came to me as a donation from one of my clock repair customers, along with three small boxes of cylinders, about 45 in all. Two of the boxes still retain original Babson Brothers paper labels; icing on an already scrumptious cake.

 

Finally for now, I appreciate your reminder that the factory would have been under duress in these first days following the disastrous December 9, 1914 fire. I hadn't yet connected this object that landed in my space to that dramatic event. To exaggerate, one can almost picture the residual smoke rising from piles of charred ruins, while these machines were being built. In reality, one can easily imagine the sounds and noise of reconstruction going all around those assembling these early post-fire machines; shouts of foremen and workmen, scaffolding assembly clanking, power equipment of all kinds and steam cranes still engaged in debris removal, etc. 

 

In the world of Edison's laboratory and its supporting lab buildings, and the factories on the premises producing the array of goods, from some contemporaneous accounts it seems that activities were carried on in an air of organized chaos in the best of times. It's easy to perceive how some anomalies arise, that we know are sometimes seen (though they represent a very small percentage of the bulk of the production), materially multiplied by the temporarily heavier pressure of the plant recovery.

Edited 8 hours ago by Andrew