the earliest Columbia Q??

[long_island_phono]

Recently I acquired a type Q at a local antique show and when I brought the machine home I noticed that it was a very early example, even earlier than the one pictured at the beginning of this thread.

The serial number reads 312018, about 6000 units earlier than Kirtley's Q. Even more interesting is the complete lack of patent information normally found on the outermost side of the support stanchion. The #3 reproducer and accompanying recorder where included with the sale of the Q and given their condition and that the #3 is correct for the machine I'm assuming they have been with the Q from the start. Unfortunately there was no horn or key present with the machine when I picked it up. Also missing from the Graphophone is the aluminum mandrel tag.

Anyway, here's another early Q for the record books, perhaps the earliest found so far!

-Jake

[soundgen]

Here are some photos of my later enamelled model Q showing the serial number.

104995 so you will all have to think again NO ?

[long_island_phono]

That machine is the second iteration of the Q, with an enameled bedplate and side-suspended governor support, so it is indeed not as early as the Q's that Kirtley and myself have presented.

[fran604g]

long_island_phono,

I notice that the serial number is in a different location, too? Funny no marks on the end of the mandrel, either. Very nice machine, BTW.

Fran

[Lucius1958]

A tentative hypothesis on that second style Q:

Since the serial number is hand stamped, could this be a factory error, where the last digit was accidentally omitted? If so, it would fit well into the range of that style…

Bill

[long_island_phono]

I think you probably hit the nail on the head, Bill! If the individual numbers weren't hand stamped maybe the serial die lost the first number in the process and the person in charge of that addressing this detail didn't notice the lack of a first digit.