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I suspect that the reason Brunswick serial numbers are so hard to parse is because they applied numbers randomly across all models as they were being produced. They didn't assign a range to each model.

Nice 117!
I have an original packing slip for a 117 that should give you a close estimate of when your machine was made........

Dated 6-26-20 Dubuque, Ia.
Style 117
Lot No. 5390
Serial No. 194549
Finish G.O.
Checked by 1136
Packed by 1134 & 1162

That serial No. is only about 3,330 above yours,so I would guess yours at late '19 to early '20.

Iowa Dale

Dale,

That's some very good info - thank you for sharing !


I have a 117 in Golden Oak ( G.O. ) in storage; when I visit it, I will compare numbers to yours.




Frank

Hit of the Week wrote:Nice 117!
I have an original packing slip for a 117 that should give you a close estimate of when your machine was made........

Dated 6-26-20 Dubuque, Ia.
Style 117
Lot No. 5390
Serial No. 194549
Finish G.O.
Checked by 1136
Packed by 1134 & 1162

That serial No. is only about 3,330 above yours,so I would guess yours at late '19 to early '20.

Iowa Dale

Great info. So the 4 digit number is the lot number.

The date information is fantastic, and exactly the kind of info I was thinking about trying to collect. My Model 120 has serial number 157159, so am I right in assuming that it would have been made even earlier?

I also just noticed several changes of design of the medallion. As I've indicated, the one on my machine does not seem to be attached with nails. The OPs does. Also both of our medallions feature a "muse" figure with a lyre. I've also seen many later machines where the figure was changed to the "Iona Brunswick" girl. In his Brunswick book (page 56), Wakeman states that the medallions were first introduced in June 1921, attributed to information from The Talking Machine World, June 15, 1921, p. 58. This seems to be contradicted both by the existence of medallions on the machines discussed in this subject post, as well as others that I've seen in my research.

BiliBug,Yes, I'm assuming yours is earlier. I found that packing slip in my Golden Oak model 22 Brunswick. It is Ser. No. 119756, Lot No. 2091 It has the same medallion as yours, (no nails). Why it was in my earlier machine, I don't know as it came out of a private home & hadn't passed through dealers as far as I know.
I think it is probably a 1917 model. Every thing is gold plated. I use it mostly to play my Diamond Discs.

Iowa Dale

That is the problem. No one really knows how the numbers were given. I have some Brunswick model flyers and can't find any dates on them. I have 2 Brunswick machines that are the same "Style" model.(Brunswick called them "style" instead of model} The one that I'm assuming is the earliest has a wood motor board instead of metal and has no medallion and has no evidence of ever having one and no numbers on the cabinet that I can find. The second one has a metal motor board and a medallion with style 35 and the serial number 337791. I have Brunswick flyers that show Style 35 and style 27 were new models introduce at the same time and they replaced style 350 and style 275 respectively. I have a flyer that has to be a later one that shows these models as Style 135 and Style 127.
Now for my Cortez, The Serial number is 158985 on the medallion. I have the factory tag that came with it with and the original manual. The only date on the paper work is the date on the back of the manual 9-29-26. I doubt that my Style 35 acoustic machine was manufactured later than my Cortez.

This is pure speculation on my part, but being a furniture maker, I would think that Brunswick would have built their cabinets in-house, and doing final assembly at the factory, rather than employing a variety of contract jobbers for cabinets, like Columbia and some other makers.


If this is true, then presumably all machines would have been stamped at the Brunswick factory, and there would be some sort of master-sequence to the numbering ?


Wild-a$$ guess...

I bought a golden oak Brunswick model 117 yesterday.I'll get it in a couple weeks.As my late friend Jerry Donnell said about their machines;"I've never seen a sorry one!"edisonplayer PS:I'll have to put the serial number of mine so it can be dated.I think its either 1919 or 1920.

I've decided to start creating a database of early Brunswick phonographs, to try to determine if there is a way to roughly determine build date based on serial numbers (and medallion style). So far I have about 30 machines logged, and the pattern indicates a consecutive numbering system across all models, as has been speculated. The exception are the 112's, which strangely have very high serial numbers in the 3XXXXX range. It also seems that the serial number range was refreshed with the later models.

Once I am able to log 100 machines or more, I will share my data, which I'm compiling from information offered on this forum, as well as eBay and other sources.

-Bil G.

Excellent! Good luck to you with this project. Research like this benefits us all.

George P.