Repro vs original Columbia horn supports

[SydneyAde]

Jamiegramo:

My apologies for taking so long to respond. It has been a busy week.

I've uploaded three pictures. The first picture shows three Columbia horn supports, of which the middle one we have identified as a repro on the basis that the detail is poorly defined. The other two are originals. I might add that the pivot hole on the repro is larger in diameter than the others and that this accounts for some of the "slop" in the travelling arm: when a travelling arm is inserted into this reproduction horn support, the arm leans to one side and can not track the record properly.

Lengths of each horn support are indicated in the photo. A word about that. I did not measure the linear length along the curve but rather the displacement from the left edge to the center of the pivot hole. This was eyeballed. I don't think I'm accurate to better than a tenth of an inch (so the one measurement 8.75 in is misleading--I did not measure to a hundredth of an inch).

The second photo compares the detail between the two originals and the repro. And the third shows a lack of a well-defined (or well-cast) pivot in the repro.

Many thanks for the time and effort you put into your response Jamie.

I think I can pretty well conclude, as thought, which of my two support arms is a repro.

I have the proper lengths of the arms from previous threads on this site, and they align
approximately with and how you've measured them.

I did notice what I believe to be a small hairline crack on one of your originals, near the end where
it mounts (slides into bracket). My original also has a similar cracks in roughly the same position.

Fortunately, I have been in touch with a local collector here in Australia and he is possibly
able to help me out with a good quality reproduction.

At one stage UK & US Ebay provided a great solution for phono parts, but unfortunately because of the exchange rates,
a new 10% tax (for Australian purchasers) and exorbitant postal costs, the purchasing of parts becomes unviable.

Ade