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This is for sale very close to me and I dont have a clue what it is. There is no logo on the front, and there is a strange knob on the front panel. It's quite a bland looking machine, but it may look better in a different setting. They said "email for price" (Which gets on my nerves). Any know what it is?

Looks like a Frankenphone from my house, unless it's some weird Columbia client I've never seen before. Crank and escutcheon look like Grafonola but the speed control looks Victor- ish or European. Backbracket, arm, reproducer, horn, elbow look Columbia. Base looks like it's off a tabletop Graf.

Harv will know!

gramophone-georg wrote:Looks like a Frankenphone from my house, unless it's some weird Columbia client I've never seen before. Crank and escutcheon look like Grafonola but the speed control looks Victor- ish or European. Backbracket, arm, reproducer, horn, elbow look Columbia. Base looks like it's off a tabletop Graf.

Harv will know!

Darn. Well, whoever out it together did a pretty good job. It probably sounds decent as well.

Mormon S wrote:

gramophone-georg wrote:Looks like a Frankenphone from my house, unless it's some weird Columbia client I've never seen before. Crank and escutcheon look like Grafonola but the speed control looks Victor- ish or European. Backbracket, arm, reproducer, horn, elbow look Columbia. Base looks like it's off a tabletop Graf.

Harv will know!

Darn. Well, whoever out it together did a pretty good job. It probably sounds decent as well.

I may be wrong. It's happened, believe it or not!
PM Phonofreak and ask him for his opinion.

The "strange knob on the front panel" is commonly found on European machines. It operates a spring loaded catch, releasing the motor board to hinge open for inspection.

Looks like a Columbia BN to me. Jerry B.

Looks to me like a mixture of parts. Beside the unusual speed control and Victor-like turntable, the horn is a later horn, from a 1908 BN, the tone-arm appears to be from an earlier version, the case looks like the 1908 version, the crank does not look like the correct crank, possibly from a Victrola. Below is an early BN.

I hope this is helpful.

Sorry guys for being late chiming in on this. This is not a franken-phone or a Hodgepodge machine. This is an original, correct Columbia BN, circa 1908-09. This machine used a carry over, from the earlier one, with the aluminum tone arm and analyzing reproducer. This machine was made from left over parts from the earlier machines. As what I have said before,it's what Columbia had at the factory that day. The knob in the front is a push knob to open the case like an early Victor. The decal is worn off the case and the horn needs to be repainted. These horns were black, red, or blue with gold stripes. The decal should have a Columbia Disc Graphophone on the side where the crank is, and the profile decal in the front of the case. if you can get this cheap, then go for it. But then again, I am very partial to Columbia nd Client machines.
Harvey Kravitz

Thanks for the clarification.

Why, though, did it have the large speed dial like an early Victor? I never saw a Columbia phonograph with that kind of speed controls.

Any chance of seeing a picture of the motor?