The Talking Machine Forum — For All Antique Phonographs & Recordings

Some members may remember over a year ago an Ebay listing showing a Victor paper mache horn that was found in an attic in Maine. It was listed as a buy it now and I was fortunate to be the buyer.

Although, when looking at the pics....the condition was certainly not the best. In fact, almost a basket case.

However, there were some things that stood out. First, the red interior. Was this a repaint done by a past owner or what..??. I had never seen or heard of such a thing.

Second, a decal "Patent Applied For" in gold on the outside edge of the bell.
I kept thinking...."the outside edge of the bell??". Why would they place a decal like this there of all places..?.
Normally, any type of patent decal on a Victor horn is placed down on the elbow end and out of plain sight.

Well, thanks to the master restorer Gregg Cline, this horn was brought back to life and all it's glory.

Gregg agreed to take this project on and received the horn directly from the seller and I gave Gregg all the time he needed to achieve this daunting task.

I am happy to say, after a year later the horn is now restored.

Gregg examined the horn very carefully and concluded the red was original to the horn with no question. Therefore, this means that for at least a short time, a "red" interior was available on these mache horns from Victor.

Gregg and I reached the same conclusion regarding the mysterious decal on the bells edge.....this may be part of the first production run of these horns and therefore, Victor wanted it very well known the Patent was filed on the design.
After all, why else would such a bold notice be placed there...??.

Gregg and others have informed me that this decal has (to date) never been seen on any Victor horn, regardless of type.

Thanks to Gregg's great skill and abilities....he was able to save both original decals on the horn. Even given the fragile nature of the surrounding surfaces. What a craftsman.

I should add, that original paint surface (black or red) was saved as much as possible.

I am pleased to show the membership a horn never seen before and hope everyone enjoys it.

Wonderful! You see the paper Victor horns so rarely and to see one like this is amazing. Here's an example of the importance of taking before and after photos to provide provenance. Jerry Blais

You both should be proud! That's a super job on a cool horn!

Martin

Wow! Gregg did an unbelievable job on that rarity!

Thank you to those that have commented so far. Gregg truly deserves all the praise and some. As far as I know, he is the only person willing to even try to restore these paper mache horns.
I can only assume how difficult a task it must have been given the fragile and in most cases unstable material to deal with. I know I don't have the patience for this.... .

I would like to add further information that Gregg had to face and deal with.....you may have noticed the elbow end had a lot of finish loss. Well, pics can be deceiving. The fact is, this area had turned into a very soft mush and was trying to collapse into it's self.

Gregg had to figure out how to re-stiffen this area so that it would be able to withstand the weight of the whole horn again and hold it's form.

This was one of the many hurtles he faced.

The area had been covered by a previous owner with a part of a cylinder horn (small end). In fact, it appears the horn spent the last remaining years of it's use on a cylinder player.

Here are a couple pics from the original listing.

Wow - what a save!

Beautiful horn and a superb restoration.

George P.

Very nice restoration work! I am always amazed by the collective talent we have here at the TMF!

Fran

Magnificent, and very interesting! Thank you for sharing.

G & T in europe had a similar style horn. However it was "wood grained". It was introduced in 1908. In the catalog it was mentioned being made of flaxite. I find no definition of flaxite on the web, and my horn looks very much like being made of paper mache.

That truly is some excellent work

Steve