5 inch mandrel columbia cylinder phonographs

[TinfoilPhono]

I really have no idea what the survival rates are. There are certainly a great many more ABs around than GGs, but that's to be expected given the huge cost difference when they were new.

In Howard Hazelcorn's 1999 book he gives the GG a rarity rating of "R6", which he defined as 16-40 surviviors. The AB is "R3", 151-250.

[Zwebie]

Have any of you ever seen any original posters or tickets that were sold to audiences in halls for the purpose of entertaining via one of these early machines??? I would really like to see examples of such. I'll bet it was quite an exciting time in history!!! Dave

Hi Dave,

I recieved two original tickets with this gorgeous Columbia AB Graphophone I purchased a few years Back!
Kind a cool!

Bob S.

[phonogfp]

I'm a real sucker for Graphophones - especially pre-1907 or so. Nothing else looks like them (at least nothing made in the U.S.) and they're high quality products.

The Nice George P.


I'm a real sucker for Graphophones too. And I have a question that relates to one of my favorites, the AB. Why do so many collectors call it a "McDonald?" (By the way, the man's name was spelled "Macdonald.") We don't call other machines a "GG Macdonald" or a "Q Macdonald" or even an "Eagle Macdonald." All those machines - and many more - were also designed by Thomas Macdonald. There is no documentation of the time that refers to the AB as a "Macdonald." Yet, since the 1950s many collectors have called it by that meaningless name! Frankly, it drives me crazy!

Bitchy, Too-Little-To-Worry-About George P.

[TinfoilPhono]

That's a particularly lovely AB. Really stunning condition. Congrats! You rarely see them so nice.

Mine is pretty shockingly minty as well. The only reproduction part is the knurled bolt holding the Grand mandrel in place.

I bought mine in March of 1962, if you can believe it. Yes, I've owned it for more than 50 years. It was the 3rd phonograph I ever bought. I found it in a 'junk' store, as we called such bric-a-brac emporiums then. It cost me all of $20, with four very clean Edison Concert cylinders. Then again, $20 was a fortune for me at that age.

I will never forget sitting in the car with the machine on my lap while my mother went into a store on a quick errand. I was playing with my wonderful new toy, with my head spinning with delight. Then, suddenly, the mandrel broke off. Or so I thought, anyway. Without the knurled bolt the mandrel was simply sitting on the 2" mandrel. Fiddling with it caused it to start to pull off so the right end fell downward. After a moment of abject panic I saw the normal 2" mandrel peeking out on the left. So I gingerly pulled the Grand mandrel off and my eyes totally lit up. Suddenly I understood why there was a thumbscrew and slot on the left end -- to raise the 2" mandrel. To say that I was excited about this unexpected discovery would be an understatement.

Ah, memories.... Needless to say, that is another machine which will not leave my greedy hands during my remaining lifetime. I only have a few machines left from my earliest collecting days, and that's certainly the best of them.

[obmcclintock]

I think that guys like us appreciate history and can somehow link the excitement of those early times with the machine. I can see a large crowd in the seats laughing at the coon songs like from the Empire Vaudeville Co. or songs by Ada Jones or Uncle Josh. This was ALL new back then. No phones, T.V. or any electronics so this had to have a huge impact on those people. Most had probably never heard such a thing as this before.

47 years ago my wife and I were traveling through the Ozarks. We were not far from Branson and that was right before Silver Dollar City got its start. Back then it was only a state run park. Get this: We stayed a a beaver board motel not far from there that was named the Possum Holler Motel and it was $15 per night for a double !!! The next day we stopped at a mom and pop antique shop and I asked if they had any old phonographs and he said, Yeh, there are parts to one in that box over there. He said that the spring is way to small for the machine and would need to be replaced. I looked in the box and it was a maroon Gem with an original maroon horn. I really didn't want to pay as much as the guy wanted for it as it was the same price as our motel room the night before- $15.00 HA HA HA

I excitedly brought it back to the motel room and with my wifes metal nail file I re assembled it. Yeh the spring was small but it was the original and it worked well however it would not play a 4 minute all the way through without a rewind. Once in a lifetime does that happen Huh !!!! It was like a gift from the gods !!!

The pics of the AB in the post a really nice and it looks to be in pristine condition. The GG is also a really magnificent machine according to the pics.

My AB has some rust spots on the bed plate and is missing the larger mandrel as I previously mentioned. What I have always liked about the Columbia cylinders, boxes, and players is their Victorian beauty. They are to me more desirable than the plainer Edison cases and I like the lady liberty label on the early Graphophone 2 minute wax cylinder boxes.

I am really excited about the Union show next June. I could not make it this year but next is marked on my calendar.

I am going to print the pics of the phonograph concert tickets on the previous post for my board. Where did you get them?? They are really unique !!

Got to get ready for work, thanks guys, the pics are incredible. Good evening, Dave

[phonogfp]

Gosh, Rene - I've owned my AB since April 1983, but compared to yours it's still a new acquisition! ABs for $20; red Gems for $15... The memories and the stories are one of the best parts of collecting. And the older we get, the better or more unlikely they become (at least the prices do!).

A collector from California visited us earlier this week (a friend of yours, Rene - at least his daughter looks awfully familiar!) and we must have each shared a dozen stories. It got to the place where one of us would be talking about a machine or a record, and the other would hold up his hand, saying, "I've got a great story!" And they were! (Well, at least his were; I don't know about mine!)

One of the stories I shared with my visitor concerned the first phonograph I ever bought. It was 1967 and my mother (where would we have been without our mothers carting us around, Rene?) had stopped at an antique shop at my request. I asked the proprietor if he had any old phonographs. He took mom and me into a shed-like barn that adjoined his house. There sat two Victrolas. I could have my choice for $20. One had a dark finish that was nice and shiny, but the other one had a tone arm and metal parts that were gold. I liked the look of the gold parts, so that's the one we brought home in the trunk. It was deposited in my room where I cleaned it up over the next week or so. Noticing a paper label on the back, I asked my parents how this word was pronounced: "C-I-R-C-A-S-S-I-O-N." It took several years before I fully realized what I had stumbled upon in that shed. I still have it.

Uh oh...don't get me started!

George P.

[obmcclintock]

Bob S. I like the wording on the tickets, "high class entertainment". I wonder what low class entertainment would have been in those days???????!!!!! Seriously, I am going to keep my eyes open for original tickets and posters such as these on the web. What would you guess would have been the charge for admission with the ticket?? Dave

[phonogfp]

What would you guess would have been the charge for admission with the ticket?? Dave

Five cents was typical in the late 1890s/early 1900s era.

George P.

[obmcclintock]

Wow, Five cents for a whole evenings entertainment !!!! It would then take 60,000 head with umpteen concert events just to pay off the cost of the GG which was $300. in those earlier days. Subsequently then each head would be profit. In the few years that such events would be popular a guy would have to bust his hump !!! Obviously when the working class started to own their own far less expensive yet just a effective machines it could all be done at home and such public gatherings would no longer be popular or needed, not unlike the conversion from the corner movie house to in home vhs movie players years ago. Does anyone here have any such information of the succession of such events say in book or historical documentation?? That would be very interesting reading !!

René, I looked at your website, you also have some awesome machines !! I too like old fans. I just have 2 of them and there is nothing really special about them except that they are the very early ones with the wire protectors around the blades. They do make a great deal more air move than the modern box fan and mine also rotate for a wider air coverage. The old box fan that I used in my office gives some relief in the hot weather but these old metal ones have a tendency to blow all the papers off of my desk even on the low setting. Its true what they say, "They don't make things like they used to."

I have a confession to make on here. I recently lost a very good friend and my interaction with all of you on here has really been a help to me in this. It keeps my mind off of things that I shouldn't be thinking about.Thanks a lot!!! Dave

[flashpanblue]

Actually it would only take 6000 not 60,000 paying customers at 5 cents each to pay off the cosy of the machine. I would think that you could turn a tidy profit fairly quickly!
Pete