The Talking Machine Forum — For All Antique Phonographs & Recordings

In around 1970 I bought an Edison model A (banner case) Triumph phonograph which must have been originally owned by a real phonograph enthusiast as it was fully updated with cygnet horn, etc.; it came with about 300 records and had several extra reproducers including a model O reproducer which the owner had modified with a homemade brass top part. This top could be opened similar to an automatic reproducer so that the diaphragm could be changed without disturbing the weight etc. Anyway, the lid had a half-inch hole drilled through it. I've always wondered how this accident happened but just accepted it. Amazingly, it took me only 45 years to notice that the lid on the machine was actually from an Edison Concert phonograph! Apparently, the homemade reproducer top was too high when set in the carriage for the Triumph lid to fit so the owner obtained a Concert lid from a dealer. I vaguely remember someone once telling me that before an Edison phonograph could be parted out or parts sold off it, that a hole had to be drilled in the lid to identify it as an obsolete or scrapped machine. Does anyone know anything about this? Also, has anyone else ever encountered a machine with a hole drilled in the lid? I am including a few photos of the hole in question.

Dan Z.

Just wondering, what makes this a Concert lid, versus a Triumph lid?

JerryVan wrote:Just wondering, what makes this a Concert lid, versus a Triumph lid?

Oh, I think I got it, you say a Concert lid is taller?

Yes, the Concert lid is about an inch and a half higher. The Concert lid fits the Triumph and the latches work properly also.

Dan Z.

Perhaps someone made a lamp out of it in the not-too-distant past.
I'll ask my pal Peter Dilg about the hole it the top. If anyone would know, he would.