Thank you, Marty!
Along with your photos, this is one very thorough, and comprehensive addition to both this post, and the data I collect.
This is how to find them! Unmolested! I'm very happy for you, and at the price you paid I think it would be nearly impossible to beat.
You replied to the motor plate finish as "Black", but that's not correct. I would expect the finish on a mahogany A-250 to be "Reddish-Maroon", the oak models would have been "Chocolate-Brown" finish. It's difficult to identify these colors 100+ years later, but I'd say yours
is the "Reddish-Maroon" finish I'd expect to find. Given the motor plate is appropriately stamped with the corresponding serial number, it's plain to me that the machine has never been altered. I've seen others that appeared to be as dark as yours is, lighting frequency (i.e.: incandescent v. fluorescent v. LED v. camera flash) plays a very big part in the photographing of these 2 different finishes, and this phenomenon can change the appearance of a very aged-dark maroon finish to looking more like brown.
Of course, I could be wrong without further investigation, and closer inspection. Maybe someone at the factory installed the wrong finished motor plate in the cabinet, I don't know.
In my opinion, you have a very nice, all original, period correct A-250 (other than the grille cloth - as you are aware), typical of the late A-250's that left the factory in 1914. Even the "flange-type" reproducer is what I'd expect for this vintage. I'd bet this machine was some family's very cherished Phonograph!
Imagine if you could discover who was the family of the original owner? I see it was sold by "George D. Switzer Co., Ypsilanti, Mich.". Have you tried to locate the location of the store, to see if the building is still in existence?
A quick search provided me with an advertisement in the Oct. 14, 1920 issue of
The Saline Observer (shown below)
https://digmichnews.cmich.edu/cgi-bin/michigan?a=d&d=WashtenawSO19201014.1.8&e=-------en-10--1--txt-txIN----------, of course this advert would've been 6+ years after yours would have likely been offered by him, but it's a start...
I've linked this post to your post with your photos, so that anyone finding this thread in the future, will be able to see
exactly what to look for in a late model A-250.
http://forum.talkingmachine.info/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=34568What a great example!
Thank you very much for your contribution,
Fran
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Geo. D. Switzer Edison DD advert.jpg [ 415.34 KiB | Viewed 399 times ]