Dulcephone?

Discussions on Talking Machines of British or European Manufacture
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CharliePhono
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Dulcephone?

Post by CharliePhono »

This is for sale near me for 150 USD and is very tempting; however, the one pic with the back bracket has me flummoxed (Pansy?) as well as the second pic where the tone arm is affixed to the back bracket. The seller states all the parts are there. I'm trying to determine if this a Franken/Crapophone. If genuine, I would hate to pass this up at 150 USD. Comments?
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Re: Dulcephone?

Post by Orchorsol »

Fascinating, I have one myself, and have never seen or heard of another!

I've seen other similar but larger machines (this one's quite small, not much larger then a Baby Monarch) with a very similar back bracket with "Dulcephone" instead of "Pansy", so I've always thought it logical to assume it must be a "Dulcephone Pansy". It has the same motor as yours.

I'm sure the horn on mine, at least, isn't original. I wonder whether anyone has a period catalogue showing this model?
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Re: Dulcephone?

Post by CharliePhono »

Thank you, Orchosol. So, you would deem it genuine? I rather thought it might be. And, the horn appears to be wood, which would be worth something by itself. I wonder if it would be difficult to find a crank, assuming its missing?

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Re: Dulcephone?

Post by Orchorsol »

CharliePhono wrote:Thank you, Orchosol. So, you would deem it genuine? I rather thought it might be. And, the horn appears to be wood, which would be worth something by itself. I wonder if it would be difficult to find a crank, assuming its missing?
I'm no expert, but yes, I guess mostly, at least!

Happy to post a photo of my crank if you need one later. Someone might have one here in the UK.
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Re: Dulcephone?

Post by CharliePhono »

Orchorsol wrote:
CharliePhono wrote:Thank you, Orchosol. So, you would deem it genuine? I rather thought it might be. And, the horn appears to be wood, which would be worth something by itself. I wonder if it would be difficult to find a crank, assuming its missing?
I'm no expert, but yes, I guess mostly, at least!

Happy to post a photo of my crank if you need one later. Someone might have one here in the UK.
Thank you! Well, I am on my way to pick it up. I will post some photos within the next day or so of this acquisition. I truly appreciate your help!

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Re: Dulcephone?

Post by nostalgia »

I would find it hard to pass this one for $150. Without being an expert, far from...itt smells like a very good offer, and yes..like you are now, I would already be on my way to get it:) The wooden horn is also an extra:) I am currently restoring a very similar wooden horn, that belongs to
a horn gramophone I purchased in a rather wild telephone bidding a month or so ago, and that I also posted photos from in another thread here.
The wooden horn on your gramophone looks even better, and have no obvious cracks, as mine have.
Good luck, and fingers crossed:)

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Re: Dulcephone?

Post by CharliePhono »

Hello again. Well, I'm (finally) home with the treasure. To my cursory examination, it's all there, i.e., crank, motor, horn (which is fantastically well preserved), etc. I engaged in quite a long conversation with the gentleman from whom I acquired the machine and so did not do a thorough inspection of the Dulcephone-branded motor. I have the spring (seems good), governor and a large-ish gear, but there may be some parts missing from the motor; I won't know until further inspection tomorrow. Right now, it's off to fix some supper and bask in the pleasure of what I feel is a truly good find.

I think the reason it had not sold prior was because the seller had listed it as a "gramophone (of course correct)" as opposed to "phonograph," "Victrola," or even "record player," which is the usual nomenclature people who peruse Craigslist ads (at least in California) would be searching under. I tend to become a real ferret for this stuff, i.e., misspelling of words (Victorola), etc. I even saw a listing once for a "pornograph." I also wondered if others, like myself, might have thought it was the dreaded Franken/Crapophone (the back bracket is incredibly shiny). Hard to believe this was 40 minutes from my house, as I live very rural.

I will definitely post pics tomorrow.

But, I saved the possibly best part for last: He let me have the machine for an even $100. What's not to like? Thanks to all for your help today. See you tomorrow.

Charlie

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Re: Dulcephone?

Post by Orchorsol »

Well done, that's great news! And fascinating for me, to see another. I have a spare wooden horn similar to the one with your Pansy, so I'm hopeful that it might be correct for mine, although it needs some work.
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Re: Dulcephone?

Post by Inigo »

Slightly deviating the topic, as usual...
I've seen wooden horns with ribbed panels like this one on many photos of European Gramophones. If I remember well, our forum colleague Eric Reiss includes in his Compleat TM a photo of a German gramophone DGG with a horn like that.
Curiously, my ignorance associated these horns with franken-crapophones, for a certain Spanish Gramophone builder (famous Banús family) used to continue making these horns well into the nineties... or perhaps they were old examples built long ago, and restored to shiny appearance and sold in the nineties because that builder's existences were put all on sale by then. A website give the impression by then that a member of the Banús family (associated with the Teledino brand of old radios, was continuing the business...
The case is that an antique dealer I used to visit near 1995 had the store suddenly populated with these Gramophones, and some of them had this type of horn. A myriad of gypsies' antique stores also started to have them for sale by that times... That's a time when in Madrid you started to see the Indian crapopohones everywhere, and God...! I've seen people paying figures above 1000 euros for one of those....!
The supposed Banús Gramophones started to appear slightly later, and they used to sold them as 'the real thing' in strong contrast of price, quality and overall appearance to the Indian artifacts.
What made me suspicious was the fact that these Banús Gramophones ineludibly carried Columbia Plano-reflex tonearms and Viva-Tonal or Swiss soundboxes... But they were sold as antiques from the twenties, very shiny, and very expensive.
So these ribbed horns are authentic, but have been replicated by builders until these days...
This state of affairs is kind of disturbing, for in Spain it makes so difficult to distinguish an authentic gramophone from a franken-crapo...! :roll:
Inigo

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Re: Dulcephone?

Post by CharliePhono »

Ok, so here are some pics. You all should know I practically get the vapors when taking pictures, as I am completely and utterly deficient when I take photos, whether using a Kodak Autograph or my iPhone :lol: I literally just plopped the horn on the bracket and snapped the pics -- haven't even taken a dust cloth to it! At any rate, this will serve to show you the newest member of my small phono-family. I'm on the run today, so still haven't inspected the motor, but I've no doubt I'll be returning to this page, loaded with questions and "how-do-I's."
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