The Talking Machine Forum — For All Antique Phonographs & Recordings

For those of you still on the fence about joining The Antique Phonograph Society, here's the cover and Table of Contents of the 52 page June 2014 issue of The Antique Phonograph.

For more information, visit the website at http://www.antiquephono.org.

George P.

phonogfp wrote:For those of you still on the fence about joining The Antique Phonograph Society, here's the cover and Table of Contents of the 52 page June 2014 issue of The Antique Phonograph.

For more information, visit the website at http://www.antiquephono.org.

George P.

Received mine yesterday, this issue is very substantial! I enjoyed your article on Sears, Roebuck & Co. Have you ever seen one of the, "Harvard, Sr. Talking Machine" (Eagle with Morning Glory Horn) setups that you show on pg. 8? Pretty cool! Talk about a "mythbuster"!

Fran

Started reading my copy this morning. Always look forward to them.

Clay

fran604g wrote: Received mine yesterday, this issue is very substantial! I enjoyed your article on Sears, Roebuck & Co. Have you ever seen one of the, "Harvard, Sr. Talking Machine" (Eagle with Morning Glory Horn) setups that you show on pg. 8? Pretty cool! Talk about a "mythbuster"!

Fran

Thanks for your kind words, Fran. I'm glad you enjoyed the Sears article.

I don't remember ever happening across an "Eagle" with a morning glory horn and floor stand, but if I did, I probably thought it was an outfit put together by some old guy in the 1960s! For the outfit to be legitimate, the machine would need a very high serial number (probably stamped "BX" and numbered over 426,000) a small banner decal on the lid, and either a "St. Louis 1904", or "Milan 1906" decal on the back of the lid.

George P.

I am Quite certain also that the non dyed brown wax cylinder of Columbia were made for Sears specifically, am I correct? My own opinion is that they are ironically of much better quality than the black Columbia moulded records, the brown wax compound on the Brown wax moulded cylinders is much harder than the Columbia black wax.

edisonphonoworks wrote:I am Quite certain also that the non dyed brown wax cylinder of Columbia were made for Sears specifically, am I correct?

I have seen no evidence (either documentary or on the cylinders/boxes themselves) to suggest that Columbia's first moulded cylinders were manufactured for Sears specifically. I doubt this, since Columbia needed a product with which to compete with Edison moulded cylinders and would not have wanted to limit its distribution to a single wholesaler, nor alienate its established network of dealers.

George P.

Has this issue been mailed? I've not received it.

It's a pretty hefty publication now days so maybe the poor pigeon had to stop for a rest in Greenland.

Valecnik wrote:Has this issue been mailed? I've not received it.

It's a pretty hefty publication now days so maybe the poor pigeon had to stop for a rest in Greenland.

Bruce,

I just received mine the other day, so it will likely take a bit longer to reach you.

I got mine a couple of days ago. I'm not through with it yet. It takes a few days to savor and read in detail all the great information.
Harvey Kravitz

phonogfp wrote:

edisonphonoworks wrote:I am Quite certain also that the non dyed brown wax cylinder of Columbia were made for Sears specifically, am I correct?

I have seen no evidence (either documentary or on the cylinders/boxes themselves) to suggest that Columbia's first moulded cylinders were manufactured for Sears specifically. I doubt this, since Columbia needed a product with which to compete with Edison moulded cylinders and would not have wanted to limit its distribution to a single wholesaler, nor alienate its established network of dealers.

George P.

Interesting, George, I wonder why Columbia softened the compound later on, and dyed it black. It seems there is not much documentation on this information at all, and that is why I posed the Sears record as a question, so thanks. What is puzzling is that from experience, I can tell you the brown moulded Columbia compound is indeed much harder than their later black wax moulded compound, even though both are made of the same ingredients except for lamp black.