Pathéphone "The Aida"

[Steve]

My latest arrival is this huge British Pathéphone "The Aida" cabinet gramophone, probably dating from just before the Great War period. At 60 Guineas originally, it equated to over £9,000 today! I've never seen one before but I'm guessing it was Pathé's flagship top of the range machine.

This example came with two non-descript post market soundboxes designed for needle cut records. I presume the elbow was added later and this was originally fitted with the Ebonite type Pathé soundbox (nickel plated bezel clamping ring type) for hillandale records?

The dealer I purchased it from said it came from a large family in Edinburgh via their down-sized premises in Oxford. Somewhat interestingly the dealer never buys gramophones but bought it with most of their furnishings as he thought the cabinet was particularly good quality. I suggested it was "Adams style" to which he replied it was more Chippendale! What came out of our lengthy conversation was how many revivals there had been and when later furniture openly mixed aesthetic details of several periods.

Anyway, the motor is a huge double-spring type and "Swiss Made" but unlike the original advert this example only has a 12" turntable. There is room to play a 20" Pathé disc however.

Here are the photos:

[Steve]

Some more pictures:

[Steve]

And some more:

[epigramophone]

The seller was certainly right about the quality. I have seen a Pathé "Tosca" but it did not compare with the "Aida".

The supplying dealership Rushworth & Dreaper was no less prestigious. Founded in 1828 by William Rushworth, their organs were installed in locations including Queen's College Oxford, The Royal Military Academy Sandhurst, Guildford Cathedral and Liverpool Philharmonic Hall. Unfortunately most of their archives were destroyed when the company ceased business in 2002.

[jamiegramo]

Thank you for sharing. You can certainly see 60 Guineas worth of cabinet! Very grand and imposing. The blind fret frieze looks Chippendale to me but other details like the oval rosettes look Adams. I think these details work well together as a piece of Georgian revival furniture. The early 20th century did mix styles but that’s what I find interesting about it.

That huge motor almost looks brand new! What is the hole with an escutcheon plate that is located to the rear right of the motor board?

[drh]

Stunning machine--thank you for all the lovely photos!

Interesting about the turntable size. My Concert 20 also has a ~12" turntable, although, like your Aida, it was designed to play up to the 20" records. I find it ironic that Pathé, which fairly routinely sold 14" records and went up to 20", never seems to have fitted a machine with a turntable larger than 12". Meanwhile, Edison, which with the limited exception of a few "long play" discs issued only 10" records, fitted all its models with 12" turntables.

Also interesting that the turntable has that "play at 80 RPM" sticker, which would suggest the machine came after the change-over from etched to paper labels but presumably not by too long.

I *think* your elbow is part of an original adapter to play lateral records--that is, one that would have been supplied with the machine--shorn of whatever reproducer would have come on it. It was easily removeable to substitute the standard Pathé vertical "straight on" reproducer.

[Steve]

Thank you for sharing. You can certainly see 60 Guineas worth of cabinet! Very grand and imposing. The blind fret frieze looks Chippendale to me but other details like the oval rosettes look Adams. I think these details work well together as a piece of Georgian revival furniture. The early 20th century did mix styles but that’s what I find interesting about it.

That huge motor almost looks brand new! What is the hole with an escutcheon plate that is located to the rear right of the motor board?

Thank you for the kind comments. The hole is for storing the winding handle.

[Steve]

Stunning machine--thank you for all the lovely photos!

Interesting about the turntable size. My Concert 20 also has a ~12" turntable, although, like your Aida, it was designed to play up to the 20" records. I find it ironic that Pathé, which fairly routinely sold 14" records and went up to 20", never seems to have fitted a machine with a turntable larger than 12". Meanwhile, Edison, which with the limited exception of a few "long play" discs issued only 10" records, fitted all its models with 12" turntables.

Also interesting that the turntable has that "play at 80 RPM" sticker, which would suggest the machine came after the change-over from etched to paper labels but presumably not by too long.

I *think* your elbow is part of an original adapter to play lateral records--that is, one that would have been supplied with the machine--shorn of whatever reproducer would have come on it. It was easily removeable to substitute the standard Pathé vertical "straight on" reproducer.

Thank you for the kind comments. I believe you could be quite correct about both the turntable sizes and the elbow. I do have some early needle cut Pathé soundboxes so will keep one of them with the machine.

[Steve]

The seller was certainly right about the quality. I have seen a Pathé "Tosca" but it did not compare with the "Aida".

The supplying dealership Rushworth & Dreaper was no less prestigious. Founded in 1828 by William Rushworth, their organs were installed in locations including Queen's College Oxford, The Royal Military Academy Sandhurst, Guildford Cathedral and Liverpool Philharmonic Hall. Unfortunately most of their archives were destroyed when the company ceased business in 2002.

Thank you for providing details of Rushworth & Dreaper which were all new to me. Perhaps we need to add the dealership to our corresponding thread about original retailers?

[CarlosV]

Another great and unique addition to your collection, Steve! The most surprising part is that such machine. certainly the top of the line for British Pathé, was essentially unknown to most collectors, and would remain so if you hadn't found it. There are certainly other hidden Pathé gems, mostly in the German and Russian production, and in the rare moments one shows up, it is rapidly dismissed as a fake by experts that do not know any better.

Probably the lateral adapter came with the machine, it was an accessory available to customers outside the French market, where Pathé kept the monopoly of the vertical cut records for a long time. The paper stamp on the turntable is the same as those on the French machines, and as Jamie commented, indicate that the machine was made after 1916, when Pathé changed the speed of its records from 90 rpm to 80 rpm and retired the etched-label discs. It is interesting to notice that none of the components come from the French Pathé factory, similarly to the US-made production. It seems that the British Pathé operated independently from the French, sharing only the trade name - exception made to the Elf, which is the same as the French model. The shape of the horn reminds that of a table top Belgian Pathé I have, but this one is much larger and more elaborated. In any case, congratulations for the find, it is a great looking cabinet and very well kept over these 100 years!