"Sears, Roebuck and Co, Inc. Cheapest Supply House" on ATs

[PeterF]

My early Columbia AT graphophone, s/n 208166, bears an overlay on part of the banner decal on the front of its cabinet. George Paul shared the following interesting information about that with me, and I now post it here for everyone to also enjoy:

Sears was applying its markings to Graphophones until Fall 1901 (Catalogue No.111). In No.112, it was announced that the practice had been discontinued.

I don't know exactly when the practice began, so I can't say how long it went on. Sears began offering the Type A in March 1897, but the Sears imprint on the decals isn't seen in the catalogs until 1899. Of course, this doesn't necessarily mean the machines weren't marked until 1899.

If you have the June 2014 issue of The Antique Phonograph, you can read an article on all this.

You can see photos of the machine, and the Sears sticker, in this thread:

http://forum.talkingmachine.info/viewto ... 2&start=10

[phonogfp]

The article in the June 2014 issue of The Antique Phonograph should be considered the better source of information on Sears and the Graphophones sold throught its catalogs.

I should also point out that dating Graphophones based on Sears markings would be a perilous practice, since Sears often sold out-dated stock purchased from Columbia.

George P.
(Here are a couple of illustrations from the 2014 article...)

[PeterF]

Looking at the photos George added, we can see that they had more than one variant on the Sears sticker...and that the one on my AT is different from the one on the AT George shows...but is the same as the ones used on the two smaller graphophones shown.

So, George, is there any catalog information showing the Sears labels on the smaller machines?

[phonogfp]

Looking at the photos George added, we can see that they had more than one variant on the Sears sticker...and that the one on my AT is different from the one on the AT George shows...but is the same as the ones used on the two smaller graphophones shown.

I believe the labels ("stickers") were all the same. The larger machine I showed above is a very late (No.200490) A - not an AT. It does not have a label but rather is ink-stamped.

So, George, is there any catalog information showing the Sears labels on the smaller machines?

In catalogs No.107 and 108, the lid of an Eagle is shown with Sears markings. It's difficult to tell if these are the labels or ink stamps (I suspect labels). The illustrations of Q lids don't show specific marking in the lower right-hand portion of the Graphophone decal - just little hash marks to denote lettering of some sort.

George P.