The Talking Machine Forum — For All Antique Phonographs & Recordings

I just picked up this neat little camera type phonograph at a local antique store. It seems a dealer had shoved it in the bottom of a locked cabinet where it had been for the past year. Few people saw it, and probably even fewer customers could figure out what it was. When the whole booth in the antique store went 50% off, I couldn't resist.

I can't see any brand name on it, other than the word "Camera" embossed in the leather handle, and "Made in Germany" on a couple of the chrome pieces of hardware. It has a neat bakelite/catalin/tortise shell/dunnowhatthatstuffis type of resonator. Any ideas?

A picture is at the link below... I can't seem to get the "img" button to work here.

https://flic.kr/p/rttZBj

The "Camera" embossing and the faux tortoiseshell resonator suggest that this is a Cameraphone, one of many similar machines which resembled cameras when closed. They were popular for outdoor use in the days before car ownership was commonplace, but heavy records still had to be carried on the bike, the bus or the train.

The Cameraphone was marketed in Britain in the mid-1920's and was advertised as "British Made Throughout" but examples have been found with German soundboxes, so perhaps they were not quite as British as they claimed.

Similar to my Kompact, which was marketed by Plaza Music Co back in the 20s. Several differences, however. If you google the Kompact and look for images of the motor, you will see a Thorens motor, which was Swiss made. I suspect yours has a similar Thorens motor. Nice find.

Thanks for the info. I googled the image of that Kompact motor, and you're right. The motor is exactly the same as mine.