Some things I saw in an auction yesterday

[jboger]

Depending on one's perspective. I either live in an area cursed or blessed with many auctions every week and especially on the weekends. Many of these auctions are at the other end of the spectrum when compared with Sotheby's or Christie's. You never know what will turn up.

Unfortunately I have no pictures. First, there was a well-built floor model from Cincinnati, O. It was a Crystola. Why the name? Well, the horn was made of glass. First time I've seen that. Next to it was a Victor shipping crate for a floor model. Hand written on the side was the shipping address. It had been shipped to Maryland many years ago. Interesting item.

What had brought me to the auction was a poor picture of an item uploaded on the Web. The entire machine was not photographed, but I could make out "Disc Graphophone" on the side. of the oak cabinet. A Columbia machine. More precisely a BN. A boxy looking machine but enough to get me out the front door. So I went.

Talk about your Frankenphones! I'll sum up. The original crank hole was plugged, and the motor had been replaced with a Heinemann motor. I took off the platter to look at the motor board. Wrong motor board. The platter covered a Victor decal. So the motor board came off a Victor floor model. The next is hard to describe. The back bracket was from a Victor inside horn machine (for the tone arm) to which a cut-down Columbia back bracket was bolted on--the wrong type for a BN. The tonearm was indeed a Columbia tonearm but not for the BN. The horn and horn elbow were true and good Columbia products. Actually the horn was a nice nickel Columbia horn, a bit worse for the wear, but I could have used it.. So there you have it: a mishmash of Columbia, Victor, and Heinemann parts. Did it work? Yes.

[Curt A]

Did a seller from India buy it???

[estott]

At least two other Crystolas have turned up, both with different horns. One had a horn made from pieces of cut mirror, the other was a big piece of cast or blown glass.

[jboger]

I couldn't stay around long enough for the auction to start, but whoever got it in my humble opinion did not get a bargain. I left a decent bid for the horn and horn elbow. The rest was a collection of parts of not much value.

As for the Crystalo, the horn was made from plate glass mirrors. It looked like a decent, well-built machine. There were also two table models that I didn't mention in my first post. There were a Vic IX (have I got tat right for a table model?) and a common Grafanola with the louvered front.