The Talking Machine Forum — For All Antique Phonographs & Recordings

I just recently bought a reproduction Columbia Table Crane off ebay. The number is 221252566899, and the seller's name is ladanjus, Justin Schwab. He took over Norm and Jayne Smith's business. The crane is extremely well made and very accurate. Now that I have it, it leads to a question. Were these cranes weighted to keep from tipping over with the horn? Mine is not weighted. If they were not weighted, I will leave it alone. If they were, then I will make a weight for it. If someone can transfer the ebay pictures to post, that will be great. I highly recommend these cranes. They are worth the money. They look great with a Columbia Q or B.
harvey Kravitz

They are good for lightweight metal horns but they are not heavy enough to hold anything more such as glass. I bought two for myself it was hard to judge the exact size from the photo. For heavier horns you need a stand that has a wider base and that has some weight to them.

Thanks Harvey for starting this thread. It looks like a wonderful crane and a good value. Why couldn't you fill the void in the base with lead to add stability for a heavier glass horn? Jerry

Hi Harvey,
I bought one of these cranes too. They are nice. Like Jerry B. I was thinking of melting down some lead and filling up the base. My only concern was if the heat of the lead might discolor the finish on the outside of the base?? Let me know if anyone has success with this.
Pete

Harvey, we got one too and wondered the same thing. I'm toying with the idea of cutting a brass disc to fit in the bottom with a layer of felt on it. Brass is about 80% as heavy as lead, but safer on us. Thanks for the post, I see I'm not the only one wondering about a solution to the weight. Russie and Lori.

I contacted Justin Shaub and asked about the weight He said the originals never had a weight, and they were only used for the smaller horns. These were never designed for glass horns. I have both a 14" and 18" to use with the crane. Now that I know this, I will leave it as is. To contact Justin direct here is his website www.JASAntiques.com. His email is [email protected]. This will be a nice set up with my Columbia Q or B.
Harvey Kravitz

Those look terrific. I have one that was made at least 15 years ago; I can't remember by whom, or what it cost. It's not finished quite as nicely as those new ones:



The base on this is 5" instead of 4", and it extends to 18". The main advantage is that the nickel has toned a lot over the years so it looks old. But it doesn't look as "professional" as the new ones.

In all the years that i have been collecting, I've never seen one in anyone's collection. I've only seen them in books or catalogs. These table cranes must be quite rare.
Harvey Kravitz

This table crane is original and came with an Edison Standard A. The base is a nickel plated thin tin that is wrapped around a metal casting and weights about 2 lbs so it can easily support this 24" brass horn (see pic). The glass horns would be no problem either. Now it's being used with an early Home A.

Lovely crane. That appears to be substantially taller than either my old repro or the current ones. Interesting for me to see that the shape of the crane part mirrors mine, whereas the new one looks like the old Columbia ad with a bend at the tip.

Mine works nicely with an 18" brass horn: