Help identifying this Odeon phonograph

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BigC
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Help identifying this Odeon phonograph

Post by BigC »

I got this Odeon phonograph a while back and it's been sitting on my shelf. It's top is broken and some scratches but other than that it's in relatively good condition. I love the black color and hope it's original to this machine. The brake is on the outside on top of the crank, the fourth picture is of the brake. I was told that this forum might be able to help identify it and maybe get some history on it. I was reading though previous post and got lots of history on the portable machines but this is a tabletop. Thank you
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nostalgia
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Re: Help identifying this Odeon phonograph

Post by nostalgia »

I have restored a few Odeon gramophones, including two floor models, but this is a difficult area. Odeon made so many different models, and to my knowledge it does not exist a book, or written material, that cover the complete range of models. Speaking of portables alone, there seem to be a close to never ending line of models, some of which are covered in this thread viewtopic.php?f=11&t=46077&hilit=GERMAN+PORTABLES , even if some potable models are more often found than others. If no one here can help, you could also try the German forum, and see if someone there recopgnize this particular model, but also in that forum I think it may be hard to find someone who are able to identify it, also because the tabletop models are so similar in appearance: https://grammophon-platten.de/news.php

I don't really know if your machine is originally black or not, I don''t know if you can spot a brown color under the black on some parts. I can see there is a scratch on the right front corner of the lid, but from the photo it is hard to decide more than the scratch. It also looks rather suspicious around the decal, this is an area that is difficult to apply new paint without exposing an original color.

I am uploading some photos of another Odeon that is for sale in my area. It is not my gramophone, and I also have no plan to buy it, I just upload some photos so we can see another "black" Odeon, even if the interior is light brown. Again, I am not sure what has happened to this machine since the interior looks very new to my eyes, but I may of course be wrong on this.... I guess most probably the machine has been repainted in the past since we can see a light brown color under the black color, and now the black paint is flaking off. You will recognize the door knobs, but you can see the tonearm has a center position on this Odeon tabletop, so it is not the same model as your machine.

Good luck with your Odeon gramophone !
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BigC
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Re: Help identifying this Odeon phonograph

Post by BigC »

Thanks for the information. Yes around the lid decal you can see the black goes completely underneath the decal. It looks like a clear coat was added later on that's what flaking off. The case itself is made of mahogany but completely painted black. Again thanks for the help.

gramophone78
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Re: Help identifying this Odeon phonograph

Post by gramophone78 »

I would love to see the motor. Curious to see the differences with mine which is a monster.
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drh
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Re: Help identifying this Odeon phonograph

Post by drh »

Perhaps I'm being too cynical, but that streaky black one posted by nostalgia looks suspiciously as if it suffered the indignity of being crudely "antiqued" at some point. The originally posted machine looks much more as if it could have carried a black finish from the outset--or, if it's repainted, at least the job was done by somebody with more skill.

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