Columbia Type B

[dutchman]

Dug out this Columbia Type B. According to the Compleat Talking Machine these were sold without a lid, a lid was added and then the machine designated Type BX. So I guess this makes this machine a Type BX. It works great. The horn is obviously a repro, I have been looking for an original horn but no luck so far........ I really need to bone up on this photography, I'm using a Nikon S8100 and certainly not doing it justice.......besides waiting for this @#^#* hurricane to do its thing checking some of my never seen machines it sort of a treat.......for everybody in the path of this storm stay safe...

[phonojim]

They may not have created special plates for variations of the basic machine. They may simply have added the suffix to their shipping info to keep track of how it was sold.

Jim

[phonogfp]

Yikes! I don't recall reading that explanation in Reiss, but in any event the Type B was sold both with ($12)and without ($10) a cabinet. (The cabinet included a wooden base and lid.)

(The caseless B doesn't show up nearly as often as the $12 cased version. The caseless examples have their serial numbers stamped into the belt cover and along the rear edge of the metal baseplate.)

The designation to Type BX occurred at about serial number 427,000, and today there is some mystery as to why. The most plausible explanation might be that the BX was designed to play the new 160 rpm moulded cylinders - but comparisons between surviving examples of the B and BX don't show any obvious difference to account for this.

Your nice Type B would appear to date from late 1898 to early 1899.

George P.

[dutchman]

Thanks for that info. I read Reiss's again on pg. 140. As you stated both were available and after the first couple of years production the baseplate actually indicated BX for the cased machine. Appreciate the info.

[Phonofreak]

I remember reading somewhere that the BX was highly polished nickel including the governor balls. The customer would pay extra for the extra plating. I believe the small nickel horn was included instead of the conical horn. I also read that the BX came out in 1898-9. The ones with BX stamped on the plate were later. Unfortunately, I can't remember my source.
Harvey Kravitz

[dutchman]

Humm. There always seems to be a twinge of mystery surrounding some of these machines..I have a B-80 and have read these machines we built with whatever was a hand because of the fire, or some other reason. Just when you have the real thing someone comes up with a variation... Original is a relative term it seems.

[phonogfp]

I remember reading somewhere that the BX was highly polished nickel including the governor balls. The customer would pay extra for the extra plating. I believe the small nickel horn was included instead of the conical horn. I also read that the BX came out in 1898-9. The ones with BX stamped on the plate were later. Unfortunately, I can't remember my source.
Harvey Kravitz

You're probably thinking of what Howard Hazelcorn dubbed the "BXP." That was simply a nickeled/polished B and originally cost $15. I wish Howard hadn't made up that "BXP" designation, as the known nickeled/polished examples range in the 145,000-155,000 neighborhood - years before the BX designation appeared on the data plate. (I haven't found the BX designation used any earlier than the Fall 1900 Columbia catalog; thus the fatal flaw in the otherwise plausible moulded record theory!) The nickeled/polished B was indeed supplied with a 10" nickel horn.

I wrote an article on these and other variations of this machine, which appeared in the June 2012 issue of The Antique Phonograph.

George P.

[Phonofreak]

George, I checked my Columbia cylinder companion vol.1 and it's the BXP I was thinking of. So tell me, what does the X stand for on the BX? What it the difference between the B and BX?
Harvey Kravitz

[phonogfp]

George, I checked my Columbia cylinder companion vol.1 and it's the BXP I was thinking of. So tell me, what does the X stand for on the BX? What it the difference between the B and BX?
Harvey Kravitz

As I wrote above, that's a mystery to me. I'd be indebted to anyone who can solve it!

George P.