Jordan Marsh "Avona"

[poppysue67]

Wondering if anyone can give me some info on this machine. It belonged to my deceased father and we'd like to sell it. Internet search is not producing much. There's a fella with a video clip of one on youtube. Some one in the comments said it was made by Brunswick.

[OrthoFan]

No, that's not a Brunswick model, though the grille is similar to the ones installed on Brunswick phonographs during this period.

As the decal states, it was produced by the Jordon Marsh Company, one of hundreds of companies that offered their own branded phonographs during the teens and 1920s. (See -- https://www.antiquephono.org/brand-talk ... j-wakeman/ )

According to the trademark information that appears on this page -- https://books.google.com/books?id=p5lQA ... 22&f=false -- they received a trademark for their AVONA model in 1923, so your phonograph would date from around that time.

HTH,
OrthoFan

[52089]

Jordan Marsh was actually a department store in the Boston and New England area for decades. They were purchased by Macy's (or Macy's parent company) in I think the 1990s. At that point, all stores either closed or became Macy's stores.

[OrthoFan]

Jordan Marsh was actually a department store in the Boston and New England area for decades. They were purchased by Macy's (or Macy's parent company) in I think the 1990s. At that point, all stores either closed or became Macy's stores.

Many thanks for pointing that out. This makes sense, since some of the off-brand phonographs were sold under department store names.

BTW, Jordan Marsh was also a Victor dealer, as noted here -- http://www.victor-victrola.com/Massachusetts.htm

OrthoFan

[poppysue67]

Very helpful! Thanks so much. It's a nice piece and sounds great. It's big though and I just don't have room for it in my house.

[Benjamin_L]

When the Victor talking machine company patents started expiring in 1915-1916 everyone and their grandmother decided to get into the phonograph market, including department-stores. It was cheaper for them to produce their own "decal brand" instead of selling a main brand like Victor, Columbia or Edison. Jordan-Marsh was a department store from Massachusetts, and they probably had very little in manufacturing the machines, department stores often outsourced the manufacturing to other companies and just put their brand on, IE "decal brand".

I think it's a lovely machine in good condition, but sadly it's not worth a whole lot, I've seen some local department store brands sell for as little as $50 in some cases. In full retail you could maybe get a little over $200 depending on how hard you try and your location. Getting the reproducer and motor rebuilt could help a bit, but it's just not that desirable to collectors, and when people are just starting out they often want a name brand of the era which is a little more reliable.

[poppysue67]

He paid $150 for it. If we could recoup that we'd be happy. If not, we'll take what we can get. Thank you for the help. Much appreciated.