Gramophone Made for the Gramophone Exhibition in Seville in 1925

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JerryVan
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Re: Gramophone Made for the Gramophone Exhibition in Seville in 1925

Post by JerryVan »

Wouldn't the Arabic(?) or Moorish(?) motif be odd for something coming out of India? I agree that the supposed "provenance" appears to be rubbish, but I can believe that some "craftsman" created this piece as a one-off project, using what phonograph pieces he had on hand. As seems to be typical of that sort of thing, his skills were more suited to the creation & construction of the "cabinet" than to the workings of the phonograph within. Was that done in 1925, 1935, 1985... who can say. Is it worth $45K? I'm not sure I'd pay $45.00 for it. ;)

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Re: Gramophone Made for the Gramophone Exhibition in Seville in 1925

Post by Phono48 »

That is without doubt the ugliest contraption I have ever set eyes on!

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Re: Gramophone Made for the Gramophone Exhibition in Seville in 1925

Post by Inigo »

For what I've seen in YouTube, Indians are experts in homemade foundry works, so the moorish dome could well be an Indian product...
Unless Oedipus retrieves from his memory or files from Christie's and comes here to shed some light, I shall believe this is an entirely Indian-made crapophone. The only thing that despises me is the Decca style tonearm and bowl, and how's it that the Indians have resisted the temptation to add the infamous straight angled elbow and short brass horn of theirs... Maybe we're attendants to the transformation and birth of a new crapophone era, and they have finally discovered the curved elbow! :D
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Re: Gramophone Made for the Gramophone Exhibition in Seville in 1925

Post by gramophoneshane »

epigramophone wrote: Sun May 01, 2022 6:47 am I doubt that this thing started life as a gramophone.
That's my belief too.
You would think if this truly was made for a gramophone exhibition, the maker would have increased its size enough so the brake and speed levers were confined to the motor board area instead of protruding well past the outer surface of the cabinet.
You'd probably risk altering the speed every time you change a record or wound the machine.
Surely any jeweler capable such a cabinet would have at least been capable of shortening the speed lever to perhaps ⅛" to keep it usable but out of harm's way.
I also don't believe any jeweler would go to the trouble of silver plating his show piece creation but leave the gramophone components nickel or Chrome plated.

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Re: Gramophone Made for the Gramophone Exhibition in Seville in 1925

Post by Dulcetto »

My first thoughts -- crapophone , 100 percent. The giveaway in my mind is the turntable with that awful semi - shiny fabric the crapophones tend to have , plus of course the mis-match of plating qualities , and as others have said , the protruding control levers. Also , the idea of a tone-arm to play both lateral cut and vertical cut discs in the 1920's seems more than a little anachronistic to me as there were very few vertical cut records still on the market in the mid 1920's . As to the Christie's catalogue, that seems most likely to be spurious to me -- I can't see the cataloguer of Christie's mentioning provenance in the printed description if there was no supporting evidence included with the lot. As Steve has mentioned , member Oedipus would know for sure , as he was in the '70's running the mech music department at Christie's and would surely remember something like this going through the salerooms.

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Re: Gramophone Made for the Gramophone Exhibition in Seville in 1925

Post by nostalgia »

I have to agree here, I hesitated to praise this machine initially, because I actually never would want to own it. I would not even swap it for my 100% serviced, very normal black HMV 102, that I love to watch and listen to while doing the dishes and making food in my kitchen.,

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Re: Gramophone Made for the Gramophone Exhibition in Seville in 1925

Post by Steve »

I'd gladly buy it for my collection irrespective of the provenance as I think there is some quality in the base and its certainly unique. But I wouldn't pay £40,000 for it, maybe £400.......if I was in the right mood.

The protruding levers don't strike me as being especially incongruous but then I'm used to looking at Pathé machines which have exactly the same arrangement. Surely, this was done so the original owner could stop it or adjust the speed without the inconvenience of lifting the lid?

I'd get all the brightwork replated silver inside to match the ornamental part, which incidentally looks quite good quality.

I'm glad I'm the only person who likes it as it strips away the competition. My only problem left is the price. Its over £39,000 too expensive! :D

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Re: Gramophone Made for the Gramophone Exhibition in Seville in 1925

Post by gramophoneshane »

Steve wrote: Fri May 06, 2022 2:51 pm Surely, this was done so the original owner could stop it or adjust the speed without the inconvenience of lifting the lid?
The lid would be open anyway being a bowl in the lid player anyway. 😉

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Re: Gramophone Made for the Gramophone Exhibition in Seville in 1925

Post by Steve »

gramophoneshane wrote: Fri May 06, 2022 3:03 pm
Steve wrote: Fri May 06, 2022 2:51 pm Surely, this was done so the original owner could stop it or adjust the speed without the inconvenience of lifting the lid?
The lid would be open anyway being a bowl in the lid player anyway. 😉
True, but would they have thought of that? I still think it's a similar arrangement to an early Pathé machine, whether its horn is internal or external.

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Re: Gramophone Made for the Gramophone Exhibition in Seville in 1925

Post by Inigo »

The same machine again, this time ins different Spanish auction house, this time only €9500, unsold.
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