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i bought a Pathé phonograph a early Pathé coq today to be more specific it was painted over completly with gold spray paint and it looked like a plasic toy it has severe damage to the gearing somebody removed the gobenor from its barings and it made a run ruining the gearings on the spring barrel and ac gears
it was priced at 175,- euro by telling the person in the dump shop the problems with the Pathé i managed to get it down to 50,- euro
its the type without the later front mount aditions but simply with the graphophone type B eagle trunion wich is in pristine condition also the springs of the machine are intact
if i count the value of the springs and the trunion i think i made a good deal
the phono partialy dissasembled (for those who wonder i do my work sitting down on the floor because of a bad back sitting in a cross-legged sit is best for my back)

did i make a good deal??
what do you think??

ps they put a blue amberol on it and it was spray painted over with gold paint
after i managed to remove it from its mandrel it looked prety cool like the edison gold cyliner
maby i will mount it on a round stand mount like the edison full gold cylinder just for fun!

50 euro = approx. $64 US dollars, so yes, I think you got a good deal. There are probably others that might think you were crazy to buy it, but other than the gold paint, it's a nice little machine - similar to a Columbia Q. You need to get a large plastic container and place the whole thing in it with water and baking soda. Then hook it to a battery charger and all that paint will go away along with any rust. Google for reverse electrolysis and you will find some instructions. It's easier than trying to strip each piece by hand... Or put it in a bucket full of paint remover... I have done many projects like yours and have always been happy with the results of bringing back something from the dead...

What country are you in? Can you get ammonia there? If so, soaking the parts in ammonia will work, also - but you have to do it outside.

the base of the machine under the paint was thickly rusted up so basicaly no need to be extra careful as i usually am
i had a patient like this before since the metal is fully rusted up i stared to scrape the paint and lots of the rust off till i saw bare metal
the next steps are sanding it with superfine waterproof sandpaper (wet of course) and then in several steps go to finer stuf and finnish with buffing with brasso
then if i want it re-plated i could

the goldpaint on the rest of the machine is very thin i can scrape it off with my nail so using a more course metal polish will remove any trace of it

the aluminium horn is a repro so i'm going to put it aside this machine had a simpel cone originaly

i found a pic of a early Pathé coq mounted in a case from the paul agnard site
like mine its a pre century machine 1898-99 the post century coq had a front mount system

well the paint is mostly off and the phonograph is reassembled for now until i find the replacements for the damaged parts i also found extra screw holes in the bed plate this was for the verite system that could be an option on this machine because of this it was likely sold by girard in paris

and now on the shelf awaiting the phonodoctors cure