Show Us Your Dealer Tags!

[Auxetophone]

Seeing the amazing dealer tag on Rene's Columbia AN gave me an idea for a fun thread. I've always loved dealer tags, whether they be stenciled, ivory, celluloid, or metal. Here is the metal tag on my Vic VI, which was sold by The M. Steinert & Sons Company of Boston. They were a piano manufacturer and Steinway dealer founded in 1860. It was pretty common for piano dealers at the time to also offer talking machines. Surprisingly, they are still in business over 160 years later!

 

 

[Tinfoilphono]

Great idea for a separate topic, Brandon! I love dealer tags and decals. I don't have very many, alas.

 

Columbia AN (as shown in the N thread):

 

 

Bacigalupi decal on a Polyphone Standard:

 

 

Sherman-Clay metal tag on Victor rigid-arm R:

 

 

Murray, Blanchard & Co. (Boston) on an early Standard:

 

[Auxetophone]

Very nice, Rene! Fantastic machines aside, that oxidized copper oil can is to die for!

[melvind]

Here are mine.

 

I found this right out of a Portland Estate with a Portland dealer tag which was installed crooked which makes me a bit crazy, but I have never tried to fix it.

 

the tag is just like the one on Rene's rigid arm R but mine is a front mount

 

An early Victor 6 with a Los Angeles dealer tag.

 

A so-so Talk-O-Phone, but I love the metal dealer tag on the front.

 

My first Zonophone C which has lots of repro top parts, but this dealer tag is all original.

Edited April 4, 2021 by melvind

[melvind]

I thought of a few more that aren't metal, but still interesting. A couple aren't dealer tags, but they kind of fall into this category so I thought, why not?

 

My transitional VTLA / Victrola XVI with a nice dealer decal on the lid.

 

 

This Victrola XVII doesn't have a dealer tag, though I believe it did have one before this. However, Luisa Tetrazzini signed it in April 1921 (100 years ago this month!). It looks like they removed a tag or something and then she signed on top of it. I have seen one other machine with a signature exactly like this from the same date and I believe they were sold in San Francisco.

 

And finally, not a dealer tag at all, but the most unique decal I have ever seen on a machine. It is stunning to look at. I couldn't resist putting it in.

[Auxetophone]

Dan, how cool to have a machine with Luisa Tetrazzini's signature! The rest of your tags are great, too. 

[Neilvanstem]

Lyon and Healy on my VV 90. I believe it came from the store on Wabash Ave. in Chicago. I am the third owner. The other two owners lived in an apartment building on Belmont Ave east of Broadway. 

[Neilvanstem]

This is on my VV 1-1 I found in Chicago. It still resides here on the southwest side of town.

[Neilvanstem]

This one is on my HMV 145 and I found photos of the shop which I show here too. There is a nice article online about this shop. 

Edited April 5, 2021 by Neilvanstem

[Neilvanstem]

Does this count? Sears put their name on my Eagle back in the late 1890s.

[Neilvanstem]

The Edison shop here in Chicago on Wabash did not put their name on machines only their address. I found some photos of the shop which I show here. This is on my William & Mary upright. 

Edited April 5, 2021 by Neilvanstem

[Neilvanstem]

S. Hollander in Austria put this on their machine advertising the fact that they sell needles, records such. My only front wind phonograph.

[Neilvanstem]

Harger and Blish put their sticker under the lid of my Columbia AG phonograph. I show photos of that shop too. 

[alang]

Not quite as exciting, here the tag and decal on a Canadian VV-VI I used to own. Berliner tag and worn decal from Grinnel Brothers, a large piano manufacturer with factories in Detroit, MN and Windsor, Ontario.

 

Andreas

[Auxetophone]

11 minutes ago, alang said:

Not quite as exciting, here the tag and decal on a Canadian VV-VI I used to own. Berliner tag and worn decal from Grinnel Brothers, a large piano manufacturer with factories in Detroit, MN and Windsor, Ontario.

 

It's exciting to me! I actively seek out any Detroit-related phonograph items and have a decent collection of dusters, brochures, catalogs, and even some Victrola crates from Grinnel Bros. (both Detroit and Windsor). 

[Guest]

Nothing exciting. The Wurlitzer is on a Louvre-less VV-IV. I also have a Cincinnati Wurlitzer but it is under wraps at the moment.

 

[RodPickett]

Unusual celluloid, tag on an Edison Standard

 

[melvind]

Holy Cow! That is a terrific dealer tag. Unusual.

[Fran604g]

This a fantastic idea for a post, Brandon!

 

Thanks everyone for showing us yours (Dan and Neil, what an impressive variety!).

 

Here are photos of what I have:

 

An Edison Standard Model A sold by local Rochester, NY dealer Mackie Music Co. I've continually added other Mackie ephemera and artifacts to the Standard, because coincidently (years before pursuing antique phonograph collecting) we had in our possession a c.1880-90 violin and case sold by Mackie that was my wife Sharon's great-grandmother's or great-grandfather's. The [sub]collection includes a large advertising booklet, music fold, notepad, $5-off token, envelope, bookmark, postcards, stereopticon cards, and a very rare Mackie labeled Edison record box:

 

 

 

 

An interesting connection to Mackie was another local musical dealer by the name of Samuel Levis, and his Levis Music Store (also in Rochester, NY). Samuel had worked at Mackie's for quite sometime and eventually became Vice President of the operation, as reported in a 1903 article of the Music Trade Review. Also found in the MTR, by June that same year, Samuel had "retired" from Mackie and had opened his own operation. 

 

Making a "collection connection" from one dealer with another is fascinating, hence my Edisonic Schubert which was sold by Levis Music Store. Equally - if not more - fascinating is that in addition to the Mackie violin, my wife's mother (Norma) and her father both played instruments. She a violin after her grandmother, and he the trumpet (among other instruments). Can you guess who sold the trumpet to grandad? Levis Music Store! The Levis collection includes a letter written by Samuel to a Mrs. Atwater announcing the opening of his new store, Norma's spiral bound music notebook, the trumpet, several Edison Diamond Disc records with Levis Music Store stickers, 2 "shopping bags" for records, and a couple of items which came long after Levis sold the Schubert.

 

 

 

 

Next is my Edison Chippendale C-250 sold by North Tonawanda, NY dealer Curt C. Andrus:

 

 

 

My Graphophone Type N with The Chicago Talking Machine Co. decal:

 

 

And finally, my recently acquired Zon-O-Phone Parlor, with Universal Talking Machine Manufacturing Co. celluloid tag:

 

 

 

Cheers,

Fran

 

EDIT!

 

Almost forgot our Hungarian [Union} Gramophone:

 

 

Edited April 6, 2021 by Fran604g

[Neilvanstem]

On 4/5/2021 at 10:53 AM, alang said:

Not quite as exciting, here the tag and decal on a Canadian VV-VI I used to own. Berliner tag and worn decal from Grinnel Brothers, a large piano manufacturer with factories in Detroit, MN and Windsor, Ontario.

 

Andreas

Wow exciting enough for me.  This it two for the price of one. I have or had a portable with the name Grinnel on it so they sold more the pianos. Thanks for this post. Neil

[Neilvanstem]

Hmm I have something unusual in my collection. Dealer stamp on a record. If it is not okay to post here maybe we should start a thread about dealer stamps/names on records? Why more didn't do this I don't know but not a bad way to advertise! On the blank side of a grand prize Victor label is this dealers stamp.

[melvind]

@Neilvanstem That is really cool. I've not seen on of those on a record before.

[Guest]

13 hours ago, melvind said:

@Neilvanstem That is really cool. I've not seen on of those on a record before.

Strangely, I have a couple of records marked like this from the same dealer.

[Valecnik]

On 4/6/2021 at 4:15 PM, Fran604g said:

This a fantastic idea for a post, Brandon!

 

Thanks everyone for showing us yours (Dan and Neil, what an impressive variety!).

 

Here are photos of what I have:

 

An Edison Standard Model A sold by local Rochester, NY dealer Mackie Music Co. I've continually added other Mackie ephemera and artifacts to the Standard, because coincidently (years before pursuing antique phonograph collecting) we had in our possession a c.1880-90 violin and case sold by Mackie that was my wife Sharon's great-grandmother's or great-grandfather's. The [sub]collection includes a large advertising booklet, music fold, notepad, $5-off token, envelope, bookmark, postcards, stereopticon cards, and a very rare Mackie labeled Edison record box:

 

 

 

 

An interesting connection to Mackie was another local musical dealer by the name of Samuel Levis, and his Levis Music Store (also in Rochester, NY). Samuel had worked at Mackie's for quite sometime and eventually became Vice President of the operation, as reported in a 1903 article of the Music Trade Review. Also found in the MTR, by June that same year, Samuel had "retired" from Mackie and had opened his own operation. 

 

Making a "collection connection" from one dealer with another is fascinating, hence my Edisonic Schubert which was sold by Levis Music Store. Equally - if not more - fascinating is that in addition to the Mackie violin, my wife's mother (Norma) and her father both played instruments. She a violin after her grandmother, and he the trumpet (among other instruments). Can you guess who sold the trumpet to grandad? Levis Music Store! The Levis collection includes a letter written by Samuel to a Mrs. Atwater announcing the opening of his new store, Norma's spiral bound music notebook, the trumpet, several Edison Diamond Disc records with Levis Music Store stickers, 2 "shopping bags" for records, and a couple of items which came long after Levis sold the Schubert.

 

 

 

 

Next is my Edison Chippendale C-250 sold by North Tonawanda, NY dealer Curt C. Andrus:

 

 

 

My Graphophone Type N with The Chicago Talking Machine Co. decal:

 

 

And finally, my recently acquired Zon-O-Phone Parlor, with Universal Talking Machine Manufacturing Co. celluloid tag:

 

 

 

Cheers,

Fran

 

EDIT!

 

Almost forgot our Hungarian [Union} Gramophone:

 

 

 

[Valecnik]

Fran, regarding your Hungarian gramophone with dealer tag, you might find it interesting to know that I've actually been to Esztergom.    It's a city with a long history going back to Roman times.  I wonder how that machine made it to you?