The Talking Machine Forum — For All Antique Phonographs & Recordings

And an announced Beliner-

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zAjlhPJFjy0

I dont think I've uploaded any of my announced Pathés to youtube yet, but I've got some spoken in French & some in English.

It's really weird to see this thread on here this week, as I just picked up my first 9 inch Zonophone just the other day!




No. C. 5609 Song.
The Rosary
By Geo. Alexander.

In reference to George P's comment that "most" early discs were announced, I'd like to add that some (but not all) of my 10", and my one 7" 'American Record' (blue shellac w/Indian on label) records are announced. These are Hawthorne, Sheble & Prescott products.

Here's on of my 20cm Pathé center starts, about 7.9 inches. As mentioned previously these were typically dubbed from cylinders and were announced. Another neat thing about these is that the sleeves were quite heavy paper and actually sewn together with thread. You can see it on only one edge as the jacket is a little too big for my scanner.

The scanner makes the record look a bit gray and worn. It's really a nice dark black.

gramophoneshane wrote: Was it only "USA Zonophone's" first label that carried the "C" prefix for 9" discs?
My 9" Universal doesn't have the prefix C, but only the number 6004. I guess by the time my record was pressed, 7" discs had been discontinued??

By late 1904 the "Universal Zonophone" label was phased out for the "Zon-O-Phone Record" label. The C and P prefixes were dropped at that time as well. The latter label can be found on the last 7-inch and 9-inch brown discs, as well as the new 10-inch discs pressed from black material. In June 1905, Zonophone was offering 7, 9, and 10-inch discs. By 1906, only the 10-inch remained. In 1907, Zonophone marketed 12-inch discs using this same label.

The final U.S. Zono label was introduced in 1909, and featured a child listening to a rear-mount machine and titled, "On Speaking Terms." No patent information appeared at first on this label, but this appeared a bit later in similar fashion to the Victor labels of the period. Victor owned U.S. Zonophone from October 1903 until June 1912, when the label ceased operation in the U.S. Victor later claimed to have lost $500,000 in the 9 year ownership.

George P.

I feel another story comin' on....Hold on everybody..... Seeing that early brown Zono takes me back to a time years and years ago when I stopped into an antique shop owned by an elderly (and well to do) lady whose shop was only open when she felt like it. She primarily sold to dealers so I had been told by antique dealers in the area. Her husband (then deceased) had dabbled a bit with collecting phonographs and records but I had been told (also by nearby dealers) that she had sold everything out that was phonograph related long ago. I took a chance one fine day and stopped by her shop which was basically a barn in the back of her home that had been converted to an antique shop. She had one of these nice old circular farm driveways so if you stopped in and rang the bell on the barn door and she was not home or would not see anyone that day, you could get back in your car and keep right on going out the driveway. Anyway, so one summer day all those years ago I decided to take a chance and drive down her driveway and parked by the barn and got out and rang the bell. I waited a few minutes and almost gave up when I saw a lady putting on a shawl and peering out at me from her porch..."Can I HELP YOU?" she called. "I was just wondering if you were open today...", I called back to her. "Well, I suppose I COULD be open...just wait a minute young man and I'll be down there." When she got to me she asked, "Do I KNOW you?". "Uhhh, well I don't think so but I have heard that you have some really nice things and I was hoping that I might catch you open." "Are you a DEALER?". "No...but I DO pay very good prices for the items I'm interested in...". "Ahhhh....hmmmmm....OK...I guess you can go in...". Upon walking in to the shop I saw nothing phono related and so I asked her, "Would you happen to have any phonographs or old records anywhere around?". "My husband had some of those things doancha-know but I sold them after he passed a few years ago...but I DO have a few old records left...tho' not that many....wanna look at 'em?" I said sure and so she went out of sight and returned a couple minutes later with a small box of records and put them on the counter between us. I peered into the box and saw a lovely sight. A good number of pre-dog monarchs and brown zonos and some B & S Columbias and even some of the hard to find 9-inch etched Zonophones. I was stunned. I never even took the time to look at titles or condition. I said how much for the box? "If you were a dealer I could do better but until I get to know you how's thirty dollars?" I said "You got it" and paid up. I never forgot that day and how I couldn't wait to get home and look through the box! I always remember looking at the broken bubbles on the surface of the brown Zono's and thinking what happened to these. Later in my collecting years I found that the early brown Zono's were prone to having somewhat inferior surfaces and bubbles found their way to the surface and broke when played. Ahhhhhhh....those were the good ol' days! Thanks for listening.

Story time eh? Well, here's my brown Zono story - - and it doesn't end nearly as well as yours.

There was an antique shop in Pennsylvania where my wife and I would stop on our way to Virginia every Easter to visit my mother. Most times, the place wouldn't be open. Well, about 20 years ago we were traveling through and the place was open, so we stopped. The woman in charge always seemed to have a bunch of 78s, but I had never found any worth having...until that day. There must have been 30 of those 9" brown Zonophones on a shelf. They weren't in the best condition, and they were $3 each (remember - this was 20 years ago!). I hemmed and hawed to myself - - considered asking for a deal if I took them all - - but finally decided that I didn't need a bunch of Zonos in F+/G- condition sitting around...

The next day in Virginia I vowed to buy the records on the way home. You know how you just kick yourself for not buying something? I was black and blue all over.

Several days later we passed through the little town and...the place was closed. I rang a couple of doorbells asking if anyone knew where the owner lived, but to no avail. My wife was becoming impatient, and the kids were getting ants in their pants. ...And so away we went.

The following year, we stopped again, but the Zonos were gone. I told the lady that I had tried finding her the previous year, and it turned out she lived right across the street - next door to one of the neighbors who supposedly didn't know her! Oh well. We've stopped a few more times over the years (it's still open!), but there's been nothing phonographically of interest to buy. But every time I encounter a brown Zonophone I remember that group...

George P.

George,

Thank you for the information on the US Zonophone labels. Universal Zono discs are seldom seem out here, having most of our discs supplied by International, & later, British Zonophone, so it's good to know.

Thanks for sharing that story, George! I really enjoy hearing stories of phono and record finds that happen "in the wild" so to speak and even the "unfinds" in your case with the brown Zonos. Speaking of "unfinds" I'm reminded of the time also as in your case that occurred about 20 years ago when I was at a large antique show here in the Northeast. The sun was just coming up and I was out and about in the dealer fields looking for guess what! One dealer was rolling up his tarps uncovering the merchandise he had and I spied a stack of early records on one of his tables. I asked "Do you have any phonographs? I see you have some old records there...". "Uh, yeah, matter of fact I do. Hold on. I got it in the truck." He came out with a Victor I in nice original condition with no horn but otherwise complete. It WAS, however, missing the speed control so when it played it took off like a screamin' demon. I asked the man "what's your best on this?". "350...maybe I'll do better later in the day but right now it's 350." Well, this was the first of several days of the show and I figured I'd find something better later on sooooooo....I said thanks I'll think about it and walked away. After only 15 minutes of walking around that same field I decided what the heck I'll go get that little Victor I. Yeah...you guessed it...when I got there I didn't see it. Keep in mind it's still about 6am and the sun was not yet awake fully. I said, "I'm back to get that machine. Where is it?". "I sold it about 5 minutes after you left. Sorry pal." "RATS!" or words to that affect came out. I never made that mistake again. Live and learn I guess. Sorry that my story was a little off of records but, like George's story, it was one that got away. And on top of it all I ended up finding nothing else the remainder of the time at the antique show. Oh boy...

Doug

Hey Doug,

Since I know you're kind of in my area and I saw that story about the barn "antique store" with the early records, it immediately rang a bell with me. This place wasn't in Athens, NY, by chance was it? If it wasn't, there used to be a place just like that there and guess what I bought there several years ago? About 300 Zonophone and early Victor discs in what appeared to be either old dealer stock or very well cared for records. I still have them all. It's the only time I've ever come across a 12 inch Zonophone anywhere. I bought all of them that interested me and left behind probably about 100 or so titles that didn't interest me. There were some Monarchs and Columbias there too, but they weren't anything I collect. I just wonder if this is an odd coincidence or you found the same place after I did! This was at least 15 years ago. I paid her $300 for all the records I picked up there that day. She didn't know me at all, but a friend of mine had told her I was coming by who did know her. She was quite nice to deal with though! Odd...

Sean