Re: Brunswick Model List?
Posted: Sat Jul 31, 2010 7:51 pm
I have long been a fan of the Brunswick phonographs and records. I think it's a fascinating company, and had wondered when a "Brunswick Collector's Guide" would come along. There was a Mr. R J Wakeman that---I had hoped---was involved in such an endeavor, but that may have been just wishful thinking on my part. He has posted a very good overview-type write-up on Tim Gracyk's website about Brunswick. Off & on, a book pops up on eBay that was published as a kind of company history of Brunswick. The chapter about the phonographs and records is far too brief for my taste.
According to that Brunswick book (and Mr Wakeman) the decision to jump into the phonograph industry seems to be a "corporate decision" sort of thing. The discussion went along the lines of: You've all seen these things, how hard could it be to make our own? Given that a number of the uprights have very Edison-looking details, it seems likely that Brunswick had already produced more than one run of cabinets for Edison, and had the jigs, forms, cutting knives on hand. I always thought that the molded oval horn had a decidedly Edison look to the profile, but have never researched the patent info covered by the dates on the horn decal that usually is found at the front.
Somewhere in storage up in NY, I have an old magazine called "Good Furniture" which dates to the late teens (maybe 1918?). In addition to numerous photos of furnished interiors of the day, with the odd phonograph advert here and there, there is an article reviewing the state of the phonograph industry as a producer of fine cabinetry. In it, the authors are extolling the new direction the phonograph industry was headed in the production of cabinets designed to blend into the "tasteful" interiors. NOT shown are the uprights so familiar to all of us; there isn't one Sonora "bulged/bombe" upright, even though they seemed to have been popular at the time---judging by the numbers of survivors we find today. Most of the cabinets shown in the article were Art Cases or consoles, very much like the Brunswick we see in the above post. It's interesting that---in their day---the consoles were the expensive, up-market, "tasteful" way of having phonograph music in the home. Today, among most collectors, they may be appreciated for the skilled woodworking involved, but otherwise they're just awful floorspace hogs.
But back to Brunswick-----beyond magazine adverts for individual models, it seems like there must have been lavish catalogs to display the whole line of models. Maybe somebody out there has some and just didn't feel like there was any interest out here. Well, yes! There is!
And over the years I have heard two different pronunciations for the second name of Brunswick-Balke-Collendar. One person said it as "Balk" the other said it as "Balkey"----which was right (and does it matter any more?)
According to that Brunswick book (and Mr Wakeman) the decision to jump into the phonograph industry seems to be a "corporate decision" sort of thing. The discussion went along the lines of: You've all seen these things, how hard could it be to make our own? Given that a number of the uprights have very Edison-looking details, it seems likely that Brunswick had already produced more than one run of cabinets for Edison, and had the jigs, forms, cutting knives on hand. I always thought that the molded oval horn had a decidedly Edison look to the profile, but have never researched the patent info covered by the dates on the horn decal that usually is found at the front.
Somewhere in storage up in NY, I have an old magazine called "Good Furniture" which dates to the late teens (maybe 1918?). In addition to numerous photos of furnished interiors of the day, with the odd phonograph advert here and there, there is an article reviewing the state of the phonograph industry as a producer of fine cabinetry. In it, the authors are extolling the new direction the phonograph industry was headed in the production of cabinets designed to blend into the "tasteful" interiors. NOT shown are the uprights so familiar to all of us; there isn't one Sonora "bulged/bombe" upright, even though they seemed to have been popular at the time---judging by the numbers of survivors we find today. Most of the cabinets shown in the article were Art Cases or consoles, very much like the Brunswick we see in the above post. It's interesting that---in their day---the consoles were the expensive, up-market, "tasteful" way of having phonograph music in the home. Today, among most collectors, they may be appreciated for the skilled woodworking involved, but otherwise they're just awful floorspace hogs.
But back to Brunswick-----beyond magazine adverts for individual models, it seems like there must have been lavish catalogs to display the whole line of models. Maybe somebody out there has some and just didn't feel like there was any interest out here. Well, yes! There is!
And over the years I have heard two different pronunciations for the second name of Brunswick-Balke-Collendar. One person said it as "Balk" the other said it as "Balkey"----which was right (and does it matter any more?)
