The Talking Machine Forum — For All Antique Phonographs & Recordings

rgordon939 wrote:A Standard Model-B with a Model-C reproducer and a horn is still a good buy at $250.

Rich Gordon

You are absolutely correct Rich, however one at $500 gets edgy, $750 too much and over $1,000 is insane... especially if it is based solely on appearance, which may or may not be real.

Let's hope it doesn't get that crazy.

Rich Gordon

I agree with Rich ! But then there are folks who ........ have more money then sense maybe ? What is the old saying ?-- a little knowledge is dangerous --- I can think of plenty of folks I have met over the years who fall into that category ! It will indeed be interesting to see at what price this " marvellous " Standard finishes up ! Regards Dulcetto

If it goes high I am going to invest In cans of gold from krylon. I am sure they had gold standard As Bs Cs and Ds. Then I might find a nice standard G... I think it would have looked better if it had been nickel plated but at least clean up all the rough stuff. Tom B

Dulcetto wrote:The give-away , as I see it is that most parts that are normally nickelled , are still nickelled , it is only the formerly black lacquered parts that have been treated , which of course are far easier to strip and re-finish than plated parts. Dulcetto

There's no problem plating gold over nickel. In fact, on ferrous metals, it's preferable. (not that the mandrel is ferrous metal)

The fact does remain however that, prior to plating, the Edison factory would have done a far better prep job on the castings.

I agree with the comments that say it's very unlikely that it's the real deal. Too rough of a surface area.

Nickel plating was generally $25 per machine and gold was $50.

In my opinion, there are two styles; early (~1896-1899ish) and late (1900 and after), and they both have differences and similarities.

The early "Watts" nickeling was "off the hook" high quality....you better get your sunglasses out (example attached)....not a mirror-image but close. The later nickel and gold examples are less impressive, over time they have become desaturated and just don't jump out at you. I have never seen a early gold plated machine in person yet the pic's follow the same trend as with the early nickel plated machines.......get your sunglasses out.

Nevertheless, both the early and late examples I have seen, follow a trend of extensive polishing of the bed plates before the plating, where the surface has minimal casting pitting, even in the places the consumer would not see. i.e. a significantly lower surface area for optimum plating vs a black asphaltum that can look great, without all of that polishing, on a surface that has a much higher surface area. And everyone I have seen that I believe to be authentic has the Edison "presentation" tag.....with its concave corners and it's substantialness, you can see why it was $25 to $50 more.

My 2 cents, Ken

Thanks for the photo of the nickel plated machine with the "Thomas A Edison" presentation tag. That indicates it's the real deal. Jerry Blais

it may not have left the factory plated in gold but it would sure look good in my house. I plan to bid, I just don't know how high yet! Some 15 years ago I bought an L Door XVI that was missing several parts. So rather than trying to find tonearm, brake, speed control, etc. that would all match up I decided to have it all plated at once, Including door knobs and caster cups I think it was around $250. The gold has aged and today all the parts look great but they still look much more fresh than this Standard. I'm not saying it's real but it's real cool. Joe

It does look nice... Pics for posterity...

While we could likely debate from now until the cows come home whether it was done at the factory, it is very clearly NOT gold paint. I suppose it might be something like a gold tinted lacquer. Very hard to say without looking at it in person. As for surface defects, if it is really gold plating, I would certainly expect those after a century or so. Gold is, after all, a comparatively soft metal.

Clay