The Talking Machine Forum — For All Antique Phonographs & Recordings

Bruce- see info at top. St. Louis at an auction there.

As far as how many are known. I think the Tinfoil book says 8 are known but only 2 in private hands. Perhaps the author can provide some additional detail?

Something like this turning up at all in the wild gives me hope.....

Back in the mid-1980's, I found a nearly perfect reproduction of a Bergmann Exhibition that was made in the 1950's in an antiques shop in Folsom, California. To say that I nearly made doody in my britches when I first saw it would be an understatement. A friend of mine has it now.

There have been several new discoveries of original tinfoils in the decade since I wrote my book so the census numbers for a few models have gone up.

On the Bergmann there are now 11 known examples:

Ford Museum: 3
Smithsonian: 1
Edison-Ford Winter Estate: 1
Deutches Museum: 1
Glasgow Transportation Museum: 1 (solid brass -- only surviving example of the "drawing room instrument")
Private collection in England: 1
Private collections in US: 3

In addition there are three experimental Bergmann tinfoils known with double flywheels, not put into commercial sale: one each at the Ford Museum, Smithsonian, Edison National Historic Site.

Any idea how many were produced?

Quoting from my own book:

"Although serial number listings are incomplete, by the time the first 'Bergmann' phonographs were produced the issued numbers used on earlier styles had reached approximately 80. The highest recorded number is 228, indicating the total production amounted to approximately 150 machines."

I have your book, but I'm not home to access it, so thanks for answering for me. A nearly 10% survival rate is pretty darned good! No doubt there are still a few more to be discovered.

JohnM wrote:Any idea how many were produced?

Sigmund Bergmann was still manufacturing tinfoil phonographs according to needs in 1884 when no one bothered to note the serial number. Therefore we will never know the absolute numbers.