A smile from the cylinder cabinet gods.

[FloridaClay]

A bit of good fortune. There was a local auction on Saturday that had several phonographs and related items. I had intended to go, but something came up and I couldn’t. A fellow collector friend did, however. He picked up a cylinder record cabinet for less than $20, knowing it might be something I’d like, and let me have it for what he paid for it. Generous of him indeed!

Anyhow, here it is. Unfortunately somebody recently had it who had the delicacy in handling it of King Kong. The bottom of the top drawer had come loose from the drawer front and the bottom had dropped down, jamming both the first and second drawers (which could have been easily freed by pushing up from the below when the 3rd drawer was opened). Their solution was to force drawer two open by putting so much pressure on it that the pivot hinge pin gave way splitting the corner out of the drawer front. A couple of other drawer bottoms are split. On the other hand the rough treatment left it in a condition to scare away most bidders.

The good news is that all the splits should be fairly simple to repair. I also found everything missing inside the cabinet except the key (all the drawers have locks), including the pivot pin, the piece broken out of the drawer front, 3 missing record holder tubes (and all the tubes are in excellent condition), and a price tag indicating that the cabinet was for sale at some time in the past by Nipper’s Choice, a dealer in Keene, New Hampshire. The finish needs some restoration.

I did not find this exact cabinet in either of George and Tim’s accessory related books. Does anybody know for sure who the maker was and when it might have been made?

I am also interested in opinions about what wood this is and about the proper finish color. The cabinet does not appear to ever have been refinished, but is pretty light now.

Clay

[phonogfp]

Wow - - you have a nice friend, Clay!

The apron and the pivoting drawer design look like cabinets marketed by a couple of New York City firms around 1905. The apron is similar to a design sold by the Bettini Phonograph Co. on West 23rd Street. (See ad below.)

cabinetbettini2.jpg (34.2 KiB) Viewed 1052 times

The pivoting drawers are reminiscent of "Perfection" cabinets sold by the Douglas Phonograph Co. If you check The Talking Machine World for 1906, you may find another ad that shows it - or something very close.

http://archive.org/search.php?query=tal ... pe%3Atexts

As for who made the cabinet, that's anybody's guess.

Congratulations - that's an interesting cabinet!

George P.

[FellowCollector]

Nice looking cylinder cabinet, Clay. The prior owner (or consignor) really took a bath on selling it at that auction though. Looks like they (or someone in the past) paid Ken Woodbury $495 for it and sold it years later at this auction for under $20? Yikes! That would make me cringe if I were the prior owner. Awesome buy for you though. Looks nice and lots of potential.

Doug

[Silvertone]

Does anybody know for sure who the maker was and when it might have been made?

It appears to be a cabinet sold by The Douglas Phonograph Company in New York in approximately 1906. It is their Number 198.

[phonogfp]

You just beat me, Bob!

From June 1906:

George P.

[FloridaClay]

Thanks much for the info on the cabinet!

The friend who got it for me and I go out for barbeque once a month and talk phonographs and music boxes. I think I may owe him a year's worth of BBQ sandwiches.

I don't know the back story of the auction. They were apparently selling everything under the sun from land lots to cars to old tools to you name it with some phonographs and music boxes there amongst the clutter. The star of the show from the phonograph dept. was an Edison Concert that brought about $2,100 with no horn or reproducer. From their advertising the auction company appeared clueless about what that had in the way of mechanical music stuff. From the damage to it I think the cylinder cabinet must have fallen into the hands of someone who didn't care anything about it or have any idea of how to treat it. Perhaps its owner passed away and it fell into the hands of heirs who damaged it and just wanted rid of it. Anyway I will do my best to care for it while I am around.

Clay

[FloridaClay]

A little postscript. There is an Edison connection. National Phonograph Co. bought a controlling interest in Douglas Phonograph Company in 1904.

Clay

[FloridaClay]

One more postscript. Repairs are finished and my bargain cylinder cabinet has now found its home under my Edison Triumph, a perfect fit.

Clay

[phonogfp]

Nice!

George P.

[Bruce]

Very nice cabinet and great save

Merry Christmas

Bruce