The Talking Machine Forum — For All Antique Phonographs & Recordings

The phonograph and case are indeed period. The boxes the cylinders are in have been felt-lined, but the outsides are bright and minty from being protected all those years. There are period ads pasted on the inside cover, the wood finish is crazed and the woodbox is of dovetailed construction. The cylinders are incorrect and should be brown wax. I also can't see why someone in the modern age would go through the trouble of constructing a case, crank, horn, crane, etc for something such as an inexpensive Eagle.

Those are period ads, but I can't see why a phonograph exhibitor would put such a random assortment inside the lid. At the very least I think someone has embellished this.

phonohound wrote:I also can't see why someone in the modern age would go through the trouble of constructing a case, crank, horn, crane, etc for something such as an inexpensive Eagle.

For the great majority a phonograph is a strange and rarely seen apparatus. Many people think that an Eagle is either extremely valuable or worth nothing. In any case it is fun to work with and make it function again. I saw my first open horn gramophone (an electrical motor driven remake by Philips) when I was a kid. It was like a miracle. Years later, in 1989, with this first impression in mind, I bought my first gramophone. From today's sight it was a ruin. As I am a trained precision mechanic I manufactured missing parts and made it running. I was very proud of my work and showed it to friends who had never seen such a thing.

I seriously hope that your exhibition Eagle is authentic, but even if not, it is for sure that someone invested a lot of effort and love to create a very presentable ensemble.

I know this Exhibitor's Eagle is period and circa 1899-1901. Authentic really doesn't apply to this machine because it is a one-off. It was made to suit the original owner's needs at that time in his life. The period ads could have been placed there by the original owner for decoration. He didn't necessarily have any allegiance to Columbia or try to sell anything, other than for people to pay to listen to his records at a performance.

I appreciate the input from the many collectors.

Thanks for sharing this "phonohound." A neat thing to have and a delightful little bit of history.

Clay

I like that exhibitor's case. Very nicely built. I agree that this sort of thing was typically one-off, made by or for enterprising fellows hoping to cadge a few nickels by carting their modest Eagles around.

I think I may have posted this previously, but here's a much simpler exhibitor's box:

.

Now THAT is cool! To own an original piece from their labs must few and far between. Thanks for sharring the photo and diagrams.

.