SOLD: 1897 "skeletal" Edison Home Phonograph; INQUIRE

[MicaMonster]

Has brass mandrel, badged crank, brass weights on motor, early "whisker" lid decal, and nice Automatic reproducer. Plays beautifully. It goes without saying that these aren't just rare...they are downright scarce. I can deliver to Stantons, or Wayne in Spring. If it needs to be shipped, it will be shipped in 3 boxes, or two large boxes.

[rgordon939]

PM Sent

Rich Gordon

[PeterF]

What's the serial number, please?

[ticticdok]

Has brass mandrel, badged crank, brass weights on motor, early "whisker" lid decal, and nice Automatic reproducer. Plays beautifully. It goes without saying that these aren't just rare...they are downright scarce. I can deliver to Stantons, or Wayne in Spring. If it needs to be shipped, it will be shipped in 3 boxes, or two large boxes.

PM Sent.

John Cleveland

[Phonofreak]

Was this the one that you restored? I remember the thread on it from beginning to end.
Harvey Kravitz

[MicaMonster]

No, this is not the machine I restored on the Forum. The mech on this one is original. A 3-digit serial number Home sold several years ago at auction for about $11,000. I can count on less than two hands how many of these I know of in existance. Many inquiries were about why this top frame was so special. Well, here goes:

Competing in a market that demanded a phonograph that wasn't as heavy and cumbersome as a Class M or a Spring Motor, the Home model was developed with a lightweight all brass clockwork motor, and lightened upper works made of significantly thinner iron, with a large area of the iron cut out (molded out, rather) under the feedscrew. Thus, it is called a skeletal frame. The target weight was a scant 16 pounds, according to ads I recall reviewing from the 1890's. Spring Motors and Class-M machines weighing in around 50-65 pounds+++. This does not have a clockwork motor, but does have an early brass-governor-weighted motor, which this I believe is the 2nd variety of the later cast iron motor. The earliest version I have observed has a MUCH THINNER cast iron motor frame and narrower spring barrel, which is noticably lighter than this one. But, FRAGILE to bumps and vibration (remember....buckboard wagons and buggys were used back then to transport these). So this motor is much more robust.

The 1896 clockwork Home was a disappointment. Look at the Type N Graphophone of the same period. Its like comparing a Mercedes SL to a Renault 5.