The Talking Machine Forum — For All Antique Phonographs & Recordings

I'm going to compile my photo journal on the restoration process of my Gem shortly, and post it. But I wanted to share this "origin" comparison photo of how it started, to finished restoration.

Another of it assembled

I just added to my collection a fairly late Edison Gem model D, s/n 355670.
What's interesting is that it has the larger carrier arm and a 4-minute model N reproducer,
similar to what was offered on the Gem model E.
Just curious, has anyone else seen a model D Gem with this set-up ?

Regards,

Bill Meyer
East Syracuse, N.Y.
http://ascobill.wixsite.com/edisonphono

In your photos, the color of the carriage arm is a shade different than the rest of the machine. Is it possible that the carriage has been changed some time in its existance?

To the naked eye, the carrier arm and base look exactly the same color and shade.
I'm fairly confident this is the way it was built, but who knows for certain after 100+ years.

Regards,

Bill Meyer
East Syracuse, N.Y.
http://ascobill.wixsite.com/edisonphono

Here's the machine I sold to Shawn O. in 2015.

Jim Nichol

Here are some photos of my Maroon gem. I'm at college currently so i had to go through my pictures to find some for this purpose. I absolutely love these little machines!

Like a lot of people here, I found mine at the wayne show a couple years back for a very reasonable price. It didn't include a crane or horn and so over the past couple of years i found a crane (Also at Wayne!) and a horn the last wayne show. I paid more for the horn than i did for the machine and crane combined but it was so worth it. It is now one of my prized pieces in my collection.

Sorry for the not-so-good pictures! If this conversation is active by the time i'm back on thanksgiving break I'll post some more!

Here's my newly acquired maroon Gem on the left, and my friend George's Gem on the right. He and I thought it was an interesting comparison of two Gem Models Ds. They are almost 32,000 serial numbers apart, with my Gem being earlier. My Gem uses the older style data plate that was used on the previous Gem models, while George's Gem has the updated "Combination Type" data plate. The large Edison decal on the front is also applied at different angles. Perhaps the biggest surprise to me was the variation of paint color between them. I think it was even more obvious in person, but my Gem is a more vibrant red, whereas George's is more what I expected a maroon Gem to look like.

I swear that Dad had a Maroon Gem at one point, but I've only located 2 black ones. I had no idea that there were Gem afficianados! Next trip, I'll have to look at the labels on the horns and see if they say Gem or Fireside. He also had 2 cone horns.

This is a cool and very educational thread. Thanks!