There's a danger in confusing production with sales. Sometimes serial numbers are accurate timelines of sequential production characteristics, but in the case of the Bell-Tainter Graphophone derivative models, this isn't always so. American Graphophone had a large inventory of unsold treadle Graphophones and parts from which it was drawing to assemble "new" machines - - in very small quantities. Some of these completed mechanisms were undoubtedly inventoried when demand was light. Likewise, cabinets were inventoried and modified as necessary (e.g.: drilled for crank) to meet demand. In this way, earlier production mechanisms and/or cabinets were sometimes sold after later production items. It was a very small, almost hand-to-mouth operation until 1895, when American Graphophone and Columbia Phonograph merged. Until that time, each company had been selling merchandise separately, and it's quite likely that American Graphophone, with its much smaller sales network, contributed many "older" pieces of merchandise to the combined A.G.Co./Columbia inventory. In this way, when Columbia sold No.20207 rather late in the life of the Type "K," it may well have been selling a machine that had lain in inventory for over a year.solophoneman wrote:Since the serial number range on the Type K was 11295-20307, you would have thought that this one would have had the later banner which simply says "The Graphophone" since it is almost at the end of the run with a serial number of 20207.
Again, this is NOT a late production "K." It features a round on/off control, and the spring barrel appears to be steel. It's more likely that No.20207 was simply old inventory that was serially numbered & sold long after it had been manufactured.solophoneman wrote:So I wonder what gives with the early banner? Hmmm maybe they ran out of the new ones, and slapped one of the old ones on this one, making it kind of a one of a kind oddity for an extremely late K?
George P.