Early Columbia ‘Hornless’ Table Top Phonograph?

[VictorVV-X]

I’ve seen this Gramophone on EBay. The seller says that it is a rare early Columbia internal horn phonograph, but I have found out nothing about it on the internet.

DFC0958E-1643-42CF-85A3-D5147A9EA7CB.jpeg (77.7 KiB) Viewed 2068 times

https://www.ebay.com/itm/Antique-Columb ... 4076772632

Has anyone ever seen one like it? Is this some kind of custom cabinet or prototype?

[Phonolair]

According to Robert Baumbach's Columbia Book, this is the round corner Elite. Introduced in 1909 and Columbia's first concealed horn Grafonola. I've seen them before but not often.

Larry Crandell

[Roaring20s]

More information from a past post ...
viewtopic.php?f=2&t=40468

James.

[Jerry B.]

I've always thought the early Elite as Columbia's answer to the Victrola XII. I've seen more VV-XIIs than the early Elite. It's an interesting machine for a collection.

Jerry B.

[VictorVV-X]

Thank you all very much! It’s an interesting piece for sure. What do you all think of value?

[FellowCollector]

That is a very scarce Columbia model for sure. I have one in my collection purchased more than 25 years ago and have not seen one in person anywhere since.

Here are a couple of links to posts on the Columbia Elite model from other members:

viewtopic.php?f=9&t=30658
viewtopic.php?f=2&t=16700

I should think if one of these is in overall nice, completely original, working condition it would be valued at least at 300-500 even in the rather soft market of today. But that's only a guess on my part.

These were equipped with a heavy duty 4-spring motor and are pretty hefty for table model machines.

Doug

[Jerry B.]

It's value is not an easy question. Like an early Victrola XII it shares parts with very valuable horn models. I was offered $300 for a big Columbia dust ring that was in my parts bin a few years ago and I sold it. I also have the early Elite in my collection. In my recent inventory I valued it between $650 and $750. I also recently purchased a project Elite. I plan to restore the machine and will not part it out. It is a historic machine and deserves a good restoration. I would sell it "as is" to someone that enjoys a project but I'd ask for their intentions first.

Jerry Blais