A friend of mine still lives in the house he grew up in located in an old neighborhood in Bristol, Virginia. He inherited it from his parents, who in turn, inherited it from his father's parents. A few years ago, after he realized my interest in old phonographs he told me that there was a machine in the shed out back of house that had been there as long as he could remember. I played the usual 20 Questions with him to try to get some idea what it might be, but his answers were rather contradictory the machine seemed to both have a horn and not have a horn -- be a cabinet model, but maybe not. Two summers ago, my son was cutting this friend's lawn for him and one day I had to go pick him up from there. In the back yard was an old Model T shed that was now used for the lawn mower and paint storage, etc. I looked inside and much to my surprise, there was a lyre front Amberola IA! Sitting on top, was an earlier brass bell horn for a cylinder machine -- probably the one the Amberola replaced and the reason for my friend's confusion over whether it had a horn or not. While my son finished the lawn, I looked the machine over as best I could as it was half buried in a corner of the dim shed. It was pretty rough. The finish had completely crystallized from heat/cold exposure and gasoline fumes. When my friend came home, he offered to give me the machine for free. I explained it was a scarce model and made him a fair offer that he eventually accepted, but only at my continued insistence. We dug the machine out and carried it into the light. Of course, the first thing I wanted to do was examine the serial number so I opened the lid, but there was no ID plate. Drats! I knew where the machine was counter-stamped, so I scratched away the surface rust on the front mandrel carriage rail and exposed the number '2' !!!! I checked the cabinet cross member -- '2' again! I went back and looked where the ID plate would have been affixed and realized that there were no brad holes. This machine never had a plate! Stamped into the cabinet where the plate would have been was again '2'. It is very prototypical in many ways -- has a Triumph motor for example. It came with a Diamond A (an upgrade), but I am seeking the correct reproducer for it that would have a flattened, nickel-plated fishtail weight and an 'H'-type sapphire stylus, and no model designation on the weight. Anyway, I have always encouraged novice collectors by telling them that 'Gold is where you find it' and this story certainly proves it. I have left a part of this story out. On my way to pick my son up that day, I was down in Tennessee and passed an antique store I hadn't visited in a while. I was behind schedule and in a hurry, but 'something' made me pull in. I ran through the place quickly -- pretty much the same stuff that had always been there. I walked in the back room and there sat a nice Amberola III, complete except for the auto stop adjustment bar. The price was right and I bought it. I was feeling pretty good when I arrived at my friend's to pick up my son . . . In 36 years of collecting, I have never found two moving mandrel machines in one day in the wild. My wife told me that for days afterwards I acted like I'd been struck by lightning! I guess I had and twice in the same place! John M ----- Original Message ----- From: Ron L'Herault Sent: Friday, February 20, 2004 9:04 AM To: Antique Phonograph List Subject: [Phono-L] favorite finds OK, Here is my favorite find. Keep in mind that I started as a 13 yr. old in 1961. When I was in college, a fellow Historical Society member who was also a feature writer for a local paper did a story on my hobby. Soon thereafter, I got a call from a fellow who had a phonograph for sale. I went to look and it was a small, outside horn Victor. At the time, I only had inside horn machines and a Suitcase Home. He had "cleaned" the horn and managed to ruin the paint on it. It didn't run right. He asked me if I wanted it and I said yes. He asked what it was worth and I truthfully answered that I didn't know. "How a bout $10-I have to settle an estate", he said. I agreed and my Victor P1 with the original box for its long throat Exhibition sound box were on their way home with me. I couple years previous to this I had rescued the mechanicals to an early Victrola and the governor springs in it fit the P1 so I was able to get it playing smoothly again. Black Spray paint and Brasso restored the horn. It is still one of my favorites.
Ron L _______________________________________________ Phono-l mailing list [email protected] http://t2.cwihosting.com/mailman/listinfo/phono-l_oldcrank.comGet more from the Web. FREE MSN Explorer download : http://explorer.msn.com From john9ten Fri Feb 20 11:01:40 2004 From: john9ten (john robles) Date: Sun Dec 24 13:10:32 2006 Subject: [Phono-L] favorite finds In-Reply-To: <[email protected]> Message-ID: <[email protected]> Gosh, all these stories are so great and inspirational! I had privately requested permission to publish a couple of them in the GSPS Record, the newsletter of the Golden State Phonograph Society, the California Chapter of MAPS. Now I would like to ask permission of all the authors here if they would mind if I printed their stories over the coming months. I will send a free issue to whoever has their story included. I have already deleted stories from two days ago and before, I am sorry to say. Anyway, may I have your permission, authors?? THanks John Robles John Maeder <[email protected]> wrote: A friend of mine still lives in the house he grew up in located in an old neighborhood in Bristol, Virginia. He inherited it from his parents, who in turn, inherited it from his father's parents. A few years ago, after he realized my interest in old phonographs he told me that there was a machine in the shed out back of house that had been there as long as he could remember. I played the usual 20 Questions with him to try to get some idea what it might be, but his answers were rather contradictory the machine seemed to both have a horn and not have a horn -- be a cabinet model, but maybe not. Two summers ago, my son was cutting this friend's lawn for him and one day I had to go pick him up from there. In the back yard was an old Model T shed that was now used for the lawn mower and paint storage, etc. I looked inside and much to my surprise, there was a lyre front Amberola IA! Sitting on top, was an earlier brass bell horn for a cylinder machine -- probably the one the Amberola replaced and the reason for my friend's confusion over whether it had a horn or not. While my son finished the lawn, I looked the machine over as best I could as it was half buried in a corner of the dim shed. It was pretty rough. The finish had completely crystallized from heat/cold exposure and gasoline fumes. When my friend came home, he offered to give me the machine for free. I explained it was a scarce model and made him a fair offer that he eventually accepted, but only at my continued insistence. We dug the machine out and carried it into the light. Of course, the first thing I wanted to do was examine the serial number so I opened the lid, but there was no ID plate. Drats! I knew where the machine was counter-stamped, so I scratched away the surface rust on the front mandrel carriage rail and exposed the number '2' !!!! I checked the cabinet cross member -- '2' again! I went back and looked where the ID plate would have been affixed and realized that there were no brad holes. This machine never had a plate! Stamped into the cabinet where the plate would have been was again '2'. It is very prototypical in many ways -- has a Triumph motor for example. It came with a Diamond A (an upgrade), but I am seeking the correct reproducer for it that would have a flattened, nickel-plated fishtail weight and an 'H'-type sapphire stylus, and no model designation on the weight. Anyway, I have always encouraged novice collectors by telling them that 'Gold is where you find it' and this story certainly proves it. I have left a part of this story out. On my way to pick my son up that day, I was down in Tennessee and passed an antique store I hadn't visited in a while. I was behind schedule and in a hurry, but 'something' made me pull in. I ran through the place quickly -- pretty much the same stuff that had always been there. I walked in the back room and there sat a nice Amberola III, complete except for the auto stop adjustment bar. The price was right and I bought it. I was feeling pretty good when I arrived at my friend's to pick up my son . . . In 36 years of collecting, I have never found two moving mandrel machines in one day in the wild. My wife told me that for days afterwards I acted like I'd been struck by lightning! I guess I had and twice in the same place! John M ----- Original Message ----- From: Ron L'Herault Sent: Friday, February 20, 2004 9:04 AM To: Antique Phonograph List Subject: [Phono-L] favorite finds OK, Here is my favorite find. Keep in mind that I started as a 13 yr. old in 1961. When I was in college, a fellow Historical Society member who was also a feature writer for a local paper did a story on my hobby. Soon thereafter, I got a call from a fellow who had a phonograph for sale. I went to look and it was a small, outside horn Victor. At the time, I only had inside horn machines and a Suitcase Home. He had "cleaned" the horn and managed to ruin the paint on it. It didn't run right. He asked me if I wanted it and I said yes. He asked what it was worth and I truthfully answered that I didn't know. "How a bout $10-I have to settle an estate", he said. I agreed and my Victor P1 with the original box for its long throat Exhibition sound box were on their way home with me. I couple years previous to this I had rescued the mechanicals to an early Victrola and the governor springs in it fit the P1 so I was able to get it playing smoothly again. Black Spray paint and Brasso restored the horn. It is still one of my favorites. Ron L _______________________________________________ Phono-l mailing list [email protected] http://t2.cwihosting.com/mailman/listinfo/phono-l_oldcrank.comGet more from the Web. FREE MSN Explorer download : http://explorer.msn.com _______________________________________________ Phono-l mailing list [email protected] http://t2.cwihosting.com/mailman/listinfo/phono-l_oldcrank.com From loran Fri Feb 20 11:15:46 2004 From: loran (Loran T. Hughes) Date: Sun Dec 24 13:10:32 2006 Subject: [Phono-L] favorite finds In-Reply-To: <[email protected]> References: <[email protected]> Message-ID: <[email protected]> The 'Favorite Finds' series is archived for all eternity (or until the next server crash) in the online Phono-L archives at http://t2.cwihosting.com/pipermail/phono-l_oldcrank.com/ . So if you missed some, you can go back and read! Regards, Loran On Fri, 2004-02-20 at 09:01, john robles wrote: > Gosh, all these stories are so great and inspirational! I had privately > requested permission to publish a couple of them in the GSPS Record, the > newsletter of the Golden State Phonograph Society, the California Chapter of > MAPS. Now I would like to ask permission of all the authors here if they > would mind if I printed their stories over the coming months. I will send a > free issue to whoever has their story included. I have already deleted > stories from two days ago and before, I am sorry to say. Anyway, may I have > your permission, authors?? > THanks > John Robles >
