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eBay Item #281182816749
Looks like the ancient Egyptians were more advanced than we thought!

Kinda cool--and in keeping with the 20s Egyptian craze. But looks like somebody wierded up the finish.

Clay

Not that I like this particular surface, but I think a painted case on this would be better than mahogany- I'd be tempted to go all the way with gilding and polychrome.

Dave wrote:eBay Item #281182816749
Looks like the ancient Egyptians were more advanced than we thought!

Check out the seventh photograph; looks like the Egyptians hadn't yet discovered the needle.

Attached a picture for posterity. I know I saw a Piramida phonograph in the Paul/Fabrizio book "Phonographs with Flair", but don't remember if it was the exact same model. It also had some special paint job I think.

Andreas

Some of you fellows are right. The eBay example has unfortunately been "antiqued." The Piramida we showed in Phonographs with Flair has a red interior with colorful artwork applied. It's a shame about the eBay example - I wonder if it originally had a red exterior?

George P.

estott wrote:Not that I like this particular surface, but I think a painted case on this would be better than mahogany- I'd be tempted to go all the way with gilding and polychrome.

I agree about going with a total authentic paint job. The reproducer appears to rotate for playing vertical-cut disks; if so, that may suggest the phonograph dates between 1916-1920, even before the Tut discovery in 1923 kicked the Egyptian craze into high gear.

George, I don't believe the machine on eBay had a red painted interior like the one pictured in your book. The mahagony finish looks original and the decal looks untouched; how could the red paint be stripped and the wood refinished to stained mahogany without disturbing the decal?

VintageTechnologies wrote:George, I don't believe the machine on eBay had a red painted interior like the one pictured in your book. The mahagony finish looks original and the decal looks untouched; how could the red paint be stripped and the wood refinished to bare mahogany without disturbing the decal?

I didn't suggest the interior of the eBay example had been red, but I wonder about the exterior.

George P.

I'm betting the Saccente red interior is original; the decal is applied over the red. However, the decal is applied over the mahogany (?) of the eBuy, too. There are significant differences in other decorative elements as well; note the outsides of the record storage doors, where the pictorial elements seem to be incised in painted relief on the Saccente example, whereas the eBuy doors are flat-surfaced and smooth. I believe these evidences support the assertion that this model came in (at least) two somewhat different decorative schemes.