The Talking Machine Forum — For All Antique Phonographs & Recordings

Hi there all greetings.

I often see two types of Mikiphone gramophone face.
Please see the picture attached.

1. One is coloured with Red & Blue
2. another with no color et al.

I initially thought that fo no color its just a color fade out. But upon close examination of my friends Mikiphone, it was clear there was no color application on the first place.

Can any one explain please?

I've only ever seen one of these in person, and that was nearly 40 yrs ago.
They are making modern reproductions of these machines, but the quality as you'd expect is poor compared to the originals, or so I've heard.
I'm guessing the ones with no coloured lettering are probably the fakes, although I'm sure someone with first hand experience with both types will probably know for sure.

Check out the youtube link in the following thread:

viewtopic.php?f=2&t=43990

Some Mikiphones have coloured lettering and some don't. Probably, there was a change of policy during the production run, but I doubt if anyone knows which came first. Possibly a study of serial numbers might give a clue, but there is always the proviso with serial numbers that they do not necessarily run in a straightforward chronological order!

Some Mikiphones have a rectangular green needle tin, some have a circular aluminium one; again, I know not which came first (probably the rectangular one, as it is shown in the illustration inside the lid) and as the tin is usually missing anyway, we may never know.

AZ* wrote:Check out the youtube link in the following thread:

viewtopic.php?f=2&t=43990

Judging by the slightly "banana-shaped" winding key on the OP's second photo, I would guess it is an original: the repros usually have a straight edge there.

-Bill

The Swiss Mikiphone was available both with and without painted letters.

The unpainted version is by far the most common though. I have an unpainted version complete with needle tin (rectangular), original brochure, leather carrying case and even it's original shop packing box. All I need to make it the most complete version in the world is a small tin of red and blue paint. I've been tempted!