The Talking Machine Forum — For All Antique Phonographs & Recordings

Just to add a little something to this discussion. The mandrel on your machine looks very much like the mandrel on an Amberola Model 60. Look at the pictures, yours on top and the Model 60 below.

Rich Gordon

VanEpsFan1914 wrote:I think the OP's machine is really neat--I never saw that lid before.

NEFaurora wrote:"They look like the same exact lid to me... How is his lid any different than yours that is pictured... Am I missing something here?!??Tony K.

Tony,
There is a very noticeable difference between my very late Amberola 30 lid and Charles' (VanEpsFan1914) Amberola 30 lid that he kindly posted earlier.

Please see the arrows in each of the pictures that I have provided below.

The first picture shows my Amberola 30 with an arrow pointing directly at the difference. Mine has no "lip" on the lid which I had indicated earlier makes lifting the lid off the cabinet bottom very awkward indeed. Notice how my lid is squared off on the bottom.

The second picture shows Charles' Amberola 30 with an arrow pointing directly at the lid "LIP" which is commonly found on the Amberola 30 lids and which makes lifting the lid simple.

I hope that the pictures clarify your inquiry.

Doug

"Mine has no "lip" on the lid which I had indicated earlier makes lifting the lid off the cabinet bottom very awkward indeed. Notice how my lid is squared off on the bottom."


Ok, I see it now... That is interesting. I've never seen that before in an Amberola 30 Lid either... Very Strange indeed.

What I would do is look on the bottom of your Amberola 30 and see if there are any remnants of a Cabinet Factory Decal... See Example pics below. All these lids and Cabinets were made by hand...keep that in mind along with the fact that Edison had concurrently used something like up to 22 Separate Cabinet Factories including his own.

Look on the bottom of your Amberola 30 for a decal like this.. I would "Assume" that this "odd" lid was probably the product of a Specific Edison Cabinet factory. I've never seen another one like it anywhere.. We used to have a list somewhere...Someone had posted it in past threads that tried to match up the Cabinet Factory Number with the actual name of the Cabinet factory.. Anyone have a copy of it??? It would concern Diamond Disc machines as well. I'm sure that someone will re-post it here.

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Tony K.

Edison Collector/Restorer

According to Ronald Dethlefson's book Edison Blue Amberol Recordings 1915-1929 regular Amberola production appears to have stopped as of June 30,1922.Amberolas 30,50,and 75 sold after that date were probably from existing stock.edisonplayer

Could you Please post a much better Pic of the Amberola 30 #229834 dataplate "for the record" here. The last pic you posted of the Dataplate was kind of fuzzy and not very good..

Much Thanks,

Tony K.

Edison Collector/Restorer

For what it's worth, a picture that Rich posted somewhat recently in this thread: https://tinyurl.com/y43gf2fq shows an Edison Amberola 80 (inside view) with the same nickel plated mandrel that my late Amberola 30 has. While this doesn't presume there is any correlation between the production timing of the Amberola 80 and my Amberola 30, the picture apparently does confirm that an Edison factory all-nickel mandrel was available for some very late Amberolas.

Doug

Here's another late one. Latest??? On Facebook Marketplace in MI!

https://www.facebook.com/marketplace/it ... 716695509/

Go for it, somebody--I'd hate to know I stripped & refinished the last Amberola 30.

Interesting!!! The Facebook Marketplace Michigan one not only has the Fully Nickeled Mandrel, but the "Lipless" Late Lid as well...!

Would love to know the Serial Number of that unit. Maybe someone can e-mail the Seller.

Just as an FYI, That Amberola 80 Unit pictured above has a Nickeled Reproducer as well. I highly doubt that the Nickeled Diamond "C" Reproducer is original to that machine seeing as how Edison stopped using "Nickeled" Diamond "C" Reproducers due to cost sometime in 1916.

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Tony K.

Edison Collector/Restorer

Now I had always thought the Model 80 carried the Diamond D reproducer, with a stupidly heavy weight on it--Diamond Disc fidelity, brown-wax disposability from the Blue Amberol records.

Weren't those nickel plated?