Hawthorne & Sheble "Star" 50 questions

[Steve]

Can anyone please advise me on the originality of this machine pictured? The photos are not especially clear so I can't tell if the soundbox is original. I suspect the winding handle is a replacement but what about the horn and elbow? I don't recognise the horn but it looks wrong to me.

I'm no expert on H & S as we rarely find them on this side of the pond but I know there are many experts on H & S on the other side!

Thanks,

Steve

[phonogfp]

As you suspected, the horn, elbow, sound box, and crank are not original to the Star.

George P.

[Steve]

Hi George,

Thank you for the decisive response. That's a great pity. It would be almost impossible to get the correct parts over here so I doubt it's economically viable to consider purchase.

Have you got a picture of a Star machine like this one showing the correct parts in close up please? I did look through your books that I have but I couldn't really make an informed judgement from the size of the images available. It would be good to see how exactly it should appear.

In your opinion is this still worth a punt even without the right parts? I'm not sure how rare they are worldwide but I do know they are Hen's Teeth rare in the UK. The question remains if that makes enough of a difference. I appreciate that H & S machines were very well made and are very desirable.

Thanks,
Steve

[phonogfp]

Steve,

Star machines are pretty rare over here too. I must admit that I'd be reluctant to purchase the subject machine at anything less than a bargain-basement price, as finding the parts will be a challenge.

I Googled "Star phonograph" and found a couple of images of what the original missing parts look like:

George P.

Star1.jpg (28.49 KiB) Viewed 547 times

Star2.jpg (24.78 KiB) Viewed 547 times

[Phono-Phan]

If anyone has the needle rest/discard tube for one of these, please contact me.