The Talking Machine Forum — For All Antique Phonographs & Recordings

The thread on the Crown machine made me wonder if many foreign machine were sold in the States. You see Pucks in collections as well as the occasional Pathé. Was there an attempt to sell these or other machines here? Did they come with early 20th century immigrants? Or were they recently imported to satisfy the needs of collectors? Jerry Blais

Those are good questions. Personally, I would be curious too about whether foreign machines were sold here in any capacity. I doubt if very many immigrants brought machines with them, too much of a luxury for people or families starting anew in a new country/home. Bet that many European machines have traveled or been shipped to United States due to "collectors", in the past 100 years or so! Great questions. Would pass to others for an opinion/example.
Steve

Columbia sold imported Pucks for awhile, as shown on page 117 of The Talking Machine Compendium. Columbia glued its label around the horn supports and even the mandrels!

Also, a number of East Coast importers offered inexpensive European machines as premiums to American dealers. Below are a few of many ads to be found in the pages of The Talking Machine World. These all date from 1908.

George P.

Some UK and European machines, especially portables, now in American collections may have been brought over by returning military personnel.

Expensive cabinet machines were used on transatlantic liners, and when a ship came in for refitting many of the obsolete fixtures were either auctioned at the dockside or offered to the crew at favourable prices. When a Victrola appears on UK eBay it is often located at or near a seaport, and the same may well apply to larger HMV machines found in the USA.

I guess you could reverse this and say how many American made machines were sold over in Europe and Asia ?

In the disc era it seems as if American makers and dealers were more likely to import motors and parts from abroad & case them here than to import completed machines.

briankeith wrote:I guess you could reverse this and say how many American made machines were sold over in Europe and Asia ?

Edison cylinder phonographs had a long and loyal following in the UK, but import restrictions during WW1 delayed the arrival of the disc phonographs until about 1920. They did not make much impact, as the market was by then dominated by lateral cut machines, of which Sonora was the American import most often seen.

Well of course Pathé comes to mind, something of a hybrid. It's my understanding that at least in the beginning the mechanicals of Pathé phonographs were assembled here from imported parts.

Clay