The Talking Machine Forum — For All Antique Phonographs & Recordings

If it is, it sure traveled across the country pretty quickly!

michigan to california in a week or two really isn't that fast, is it?

brianu wrote:michigan to california in a week or two really isn't that fast, is it?

it's not the same machine... look at the lower stretchers on the legs in the two images.

I totally missed that. odd that two examples of a pretty uncommon machine would become available for sale within such a short time of each other. given the shared flaw, I'm wondering whether it was common for that lower shelf to go missing like that.

It's sold.

Jerry B.... did you buy it? just kidding. It actually has some potential, but those spindley legs always made me nervous on both the diamond disc and amberola machines, i have seen some horrible cut offs of the legs after they would become broken, supposedly they became "amputees" is what I heard. Anyways, $ 1,000.00 is out of my league, so i'd be happy to just play the Amberola 30, which is a nice little machine to play a few blue amberols here and there. Still debating whether to trade up on a Amberola 50.

"Still debating whether to trade up on a Amberola 50"

The 50 is a very nice machine, but the model V, which is a bit scarcer, is my favorite tabletop. If you have the time and opportunity I'd wait for one of those.
I really like the auto shutoff feature along with the well-designed motor mechanism.
Bob

No, I didn't buy it but I did make an inquiry. I received a prompt reply that it had sold. I think it was worth the asking price of $1000. An Amberola III is not frequently found and the missing shelf is a doable repair.

"Trade up to an Amberola 50"??? Your Amberola V (first model) is the finest table model Amberola ever made, in my opinion. There's nothing wrong with a 50 and they play Blue Amberol cylinders very well but the V has such great personality. Maybe you need both!

Jerry Blais

barnettrp21122 wrote:"Still debating whether to trade up on a Amberola 50"

The 50 is a very nice machine, but the model V, which is a bit scarcer, is my favorite tabletop. If you have the time and opportunity I'd wait for one of those.
I really like the auto shutoff feature along with the well-designed motor mechanism.
Bob

I'm with Bob on that one! Love my Amberola V! I picked a very nice one up at Wayne this past October.

Sean

I do not see many IIIs, I think this is a very fair price. The III is one of my favorite cylinder machines. Yes the shelf and legs are a problem, I had to make a new one for my A-150 DD, and the back spell. I also had to drill a hole through two parts of the back leg to put a long dowel to pin the broken leg together, it worked well. I also used dowels through the legs into the shelf, to mount the shelf to the legs, and it seems pretty study now. The table top V, is my favorite table top Amberola. I do not have one, but had a few in my shop to work on. This was the machine that got me hooked on cylinder phonographs, as a little boy, I liked Ideals magazine from Wisconsin, and it one had a nice oak Amberola V with a pasteboard box, full of blue and purple Amberols on an oak parlor table. I found out later that the photo was from the collection of Greg Filardo in Milwaukee. I had the rare occasion when I was there to record about a dozen Concert records, on an 1899 model Edison machine. They were so easy to produce recordings of high quality.