The Talking Machine Forum — For All Antique Phonographs & Recordings

I found this phonograph yesterday at my local antique shop. It has a name on it but I have never seen one like it before. Can anyone tell me anything about it please. It is missing the crank, tone arm, and reproducer. The horn is also split on the small end so it wont stay on the bracket without sagging. Thank you for your information.

Here you go...
http://www.phonophan.com/yankeeprince.html

First sentence of the article reads "one of the rarest and most fascinating American talking machines"

Nice find! Especially when you see the price on the example in the article!

Oceangoer1 wrote:First sentence of the article reads "one of the rarest and most fascinating American talking machines"

Nice find! Especially when you see the price on the example in the article!

I think I would just take in the company history and forego the sales hype.. .

Thank you for the information. You guys are AWESOME!

The decal references a George M. Cohan musical of 1908 "The Yankee Prince" and the portraits in the corners are Cohan in and out of costume- both images appear on this sheet music:

You may find that it will be difficult to locate a tone arm & reproducer for it.

Thats what I figured. If I cannot obtain them I will probably sell it as I want to keep only working machines.

From the link above;

"The CHESTNUT cabinet is a true American Fantasy."


That's some funny stuff right there! I have one of these. I'm gonna have to look at it a little closer to experience the "fantasy".

I have the Aretino version of this machine. These were made for about a year or two by Hawthorn & Sheble. Columbia sued them for patent infringements. Columbia took over manufacturing the Yankee Prince and Aretino after the H & S takeover. This is an unusual machine. I would be patient and look for the parts. My Aretino is complete except for the cobbled up Columbia reproducer. I'm looking for the correct H & S reproducer myself.
Harvey Kravitz