The Talking Machine Forum — For All Antique Phonographs & Recordings

I have a friend who has a player, we are trying to find out more information about it but are running into dead ends. Inside the lid is a plaque that says Martinette, Davenport, Iowa. We cannot find any information on that company using a Google search, just an auction listing from several years ago.
Has anyone ever heard of this company? Would anyone possibly know how much this player could be worth - if it were in good working condition?
Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Thank you.

After the fundamental patents of the Victor Talking Machine Company that allowed them to control the manufacture and sale of lateral groove talking machines in the US expired 1916-1918, hundreds of companies entered the market. Some of these were well capitalized like Brunswick, Starr, Sonora, and Kimball. Others, like Modernola, and Crystola to name just two, used locally produced cabinets using generic hardware and motors purchased from generic phonograph parts supply houses . Others were rather cheaply made mass-produced cabinets fitted with generic hardware and simply branded with a decal or a metal tag to give the impression that it was a product of a local concern, although actually assembled at a central location. In other words, a small regional department store, hardware store, or music store would purchase a minimum quantity of these machines and the supplier would decal or badge them appropriately -- the same machine being sold all over the country under different names. The reason you can't find anything is that there isn't much to find. Check in the area where the machine was found and see if there wasn't a Martin store of some kind back in the day. This type of machine may have some local interest because of the local sales connection to a beloved old company, but the machines themselves have scant collector value or interest other than to belong to that category of generic phonograph that defined the era of production between 1916-1925 when electrical recording rendered these cheap acoustical machines obsolete overnight.

Thank you for the information. We have enlisted the help of the local library and some others to find the existence of this local company - so far no luck.

As far as the value - do you think it would only be of interest to someone local due to the name plate? What is the average selling price for something like this? We don't want to sell it for $30 if it is worth $300.

Can you post a few pictures of the machine? Even if we can't find info on the company it may be possible to ID some of the parts used.

While we'd need to see a photo of your machine to make an absolute determination, most of these don't bring more than a couple of hundred dollars, and they sell slowly at that because there simply isn't much collector interest.

JohnM wrote:While we'd need to see a photo of your machine to make an absolute determination, most of these don't bring more than a couple of hundred dollars, and they sell slowly at that because there simply isn't much collector interest.

John is quite right and made using "generic" parts from many supply company's of the day. A very hard sell. Craigslist in your area is a good venue for this "if" you intend to sell the machine.