The Talking Machine Forum — For All Antique Phonographs & Recordings

Yesterday I picked up this worn and dirty Edison D25 phonograph. It was $100 and it came with a bunch of early jazz discs and a few Christmas titles. One thing that I know for sure is that it is not in good shape. So far I've done a little research on the model and I found one on intertique.com going for $1500, the listing said that only about 15 are known to exist. I was really surprised but I am a little skeptical, however the serial number on mine is only number 21. So I have two questions to pose for you all, is this model really this valuable and should I refinish it considering how worn and flaked the finish is? Any comments or help is greatly appreciated

-Steve

The link to the listing with one for $1500: http://www.intertique.com/D25Jacobean.html

Also, a portion of the veneer is missing on the lid, I'm not so sure how to fix that.

Yes the Jacobean is rare but I really don't think that only 15 are known to exist. Congratulations on your find!

I don't know how many exist now but according to Edison's Disc Phonograph,Frow, It was introduced in Nov 1918. It had a single spring motor. No record has been found of the number of D-25's sold. It was reintroduced as the J-19 in April 1919 and withdrawn in August 1927 with a remaining stock of 899 cabinets being recorded. The J-19 was a "poor seller". Hope this helps. Reguardless, with the records, I'm sure it was worth picking it up for that price.

I seriously doubt that only 15 are known? I have one which was in similar shape, they apparently are prone to the finish flaking badly. I tend to try to do my best to save the original if at all possible. I filled in all the dark places missing with a dark walnut stain, shading it so that the finish had highlights, perhaps a bit more than the original but to my liking. After it dried well I waxed it with several coats and polished it to a satin shine. Here is how mine turned out.

I would probably see how far something like Gojo or Goop would get you first before refinishing the whole thing. I'm really a fan of the Jacobean though, I already have the L-19 so I've been looking for a Jacobean since they both are 2 of the more rare DD machines. I would say you got a nice deal for only $100 dollars I'm sure it will look and sound great once your done with it.
Best of luck,
-Tom

larryh wrote:I seriously doubt that only 15 are known? I have one which was in similar shape, they apparently are prone to the finish flaking badly. I tend to try to do my best to save the original if at all possible. I filled in all the dark places missing with a dark walnut stain, shading it so that the finish had highlights, perhaps a bit more than the original but to my liking. After it dried well I waxed it with several coats and polished it to a satin shine. Here is how mine turned out.

Wow your D 25 Jacobean looks great! Hopefully I can get mine to look that good, but I have a feeling its going to take a lot of cleaning By the way how do you remove the grill exactly? Mine seems to be stuck and it won't budge.

Be careful cleaning it- I've seen several examples where collectors INTENTIONALLY scrubbed off the dark finish.

http://m.youtube.com/?#/watch?v=ucEKLzkCv14

Beautiful machine. Good luck.

The grill simply lifts upward as did all the disc machines I believe. It may just have dirt or perhaps some finish material causing it to bind.

As just was mentioned I have seen a number of these stripped to a nearly light oak. And while they have some charm that way, I prefer to see something close to the original. The finished are flaky and I had to gently clean the surface with a lightly dampened cloth and some of the loose material is going to come off. If it stays it won't stay for long. Getting the then lighter places darkened was the real project. I think I made several attempts on parts of it to get it to blend an to stay. I wish I could recall which type of stain I used because it did tend to hold to the wood when dry. Plus it didn't then cause trouble with the wax after it had dried well.

Larry

You know, the guy I got it from said he was going to throw it in the dumpster and then he recieved a call from me. I guess I was lucky!