Which model Talkophone is this?

[Howerd]

Was he trying to save face or maybe he didn't want to appear to climb down to me? Surely, he's prepared to run the risk of getting me very rattled though, a customer who has spent well over £13,000 ($21,500!!) with him over the years. What does this tell you? I also find myself now curiously in the position of being banned from his website and blocked from sending him any further emails as a direct response to this post here, it seems. My futile attempts to explain and question what was going on after he told me to 'get a life', obviously fell on very deaf ears. Again, I hope 'Sidewinder' is taking notes! Indeed I am 'lucky' to have a dealer like this.

I saw this and was shocked - why do dealers behave like this to customers who try to be reasonable ?

What is wrong with the Phonograph business in the UK ?

I've never had trouble such as this here !

Bless

Howerd

[Steve]

Well, Talk-O-Phone was nominally headquartered in Toledo, OH, with final assembly being done in that city, although the manufacture of the cabinets and many mechanical parts was done in Cleveland OH by the White interests.

The Leeds and other Talk-O-Phone affiliated records generally derived from Hawthorn and Sheble masters (American, Star, International) as did the Eagle discs. The physical appearance of Leeds and Eagle discs is consistent with H & S Springfield MA pressings.

The Eagle machines appear to have been sold by the Babcock interests, the same Cleveland folks who slightly later brought us the U. S. Everlasting records and machines. When Johnny Boehm found the horde of NOS U. S. machines and parts in a Lakewood Ohio carriage house in the 1970's (the former owner of the house had been a principal in the Babcock Soda Fountain concern) he also found a large group of obviously new Eagle disc records and two of the (un-branded) Eagle machines in the beaded cabinets.

Thanks, Uncle Vanya, although unfortunately it does still leave us with many questions unanswered. Until I'm informed to the contrary I will assume that all Eagle machines were made using Talkophone hardware AND not until after Talkophone effectively became defunct. These Eagle machines had plain cases but due to NOS being found half a century later, some 'Eagle' machines exist with slightly better more decorative cabinets which were re-assembled using possibly old 'Talkophone' stock? The cabinet pictured at the start of this thread might be a cheaply made late 'Talkophone' answer to the earlier more elaborate 'Sousa'.

I had sussed out that the late Talkophone horns as pictured earlier and in keeping with other extant examples other collectors have confirmed the existence of, were indeed made by H & S.

As I said earlier though, the above statement from me is all supposition until someone who is an authority on Talkophone can correct me.