The Talking Machine Forum — For All Antique Phonographs & Recordings

I 'm retiring and would like to put my Trademark Berliner for sale and I have no idea as to value.
I bought it over 20 years ago from an antique dealer on my way through Pennsylvania.
I am a Civil War collector but this had interested me so much that I bought it.
Collecting phonographs is not my specialty as you can see by my writeup. ( sorry )
From my reading on your site and other sites, it seems to be a mix of early and late Trademark features.

The soundbox ,dated 1903, appears to be from the later model.
The arm appears original and slightly lighter in color than box.
The arm has an extension with a hard rubber sleeve to hold horn that appears original .
The record felt appears original. The Berliner decal appears original too
I know wood color tends to look different in photos. The actual color is closer to the photo that shows the brake.
The early style brake is bent on top and I have not tried to straighten it.
On the brake side of the machine there are 2 screw holes. Was it for an additional soundbox rest, I don't know, ??,
but I've seen these holes before on the internet.
The original horn has paint missing , dings , dents and a slight hole. It has a gold line around horn.
The leather elbow is new as the original one fell apart so I bought a used one on eBay.
The machine motor winds well but is noisy and I never took apart the machine.
I have displayed it on my mantle for the last 20 years with a reproduction Nipper dog.
I put about 7 photos to help as my written description is probably very weak.
Since it appears to be a mix of the two Trademark models ,any help in giving a round about value would be appreciated.
Thanks , John

The serial number appears to be 24133. Could you please confirm that?

Thanks - -

George P.

It will be best to list this on ebay, and let the market dictate the price.
Harvey Kravitz

If you will look about four pages back in the Trader section of the Forum, you will find a Berliner that is still available for sale. Jerry Blais

Thanks all,
I guess eBay is the way to go.
I just have to come up with a reserve .
Any idea what would be a fair number ?
George, I know the first number from the photo appears to be a 2,
but I could see clearly its 14133. I hope this helps.
Thanks, John

Debug687 wrote:Thanks all,
I guess eBay is the way to go.
I just have to come up with a reserve .
Any idea what would be a fair number ?
George, I know the first number from the photo appears to be a 2,
but I could see clearly its 14133. I hope this helps.
Thanks, John

It's a nice machine. I'm the one with the other Berliner in the Yankee Trader. Your wooden trailing arm *looks* like it could be a reproduction to me- it looks like the arm on my machine which is.

These are really funny as far as pricing goes. I've seen them sell anywhere from around $1500 to $7k. The problem, as I see it, is that there were several nice reproductions made of these machines so people are wary.

The two screw holes on the side of your machine are from a missing limiting arm- sort of like a little "guardrail" to keep the trailing arm and reproducer from being flung off the machine if you weren't paying attention at the end of a record and the needle skated past center. Mine is a later one with the later style brake mounted on the top of the cabinet and I don't believe it ever had that.

My opinion is- figure out what price is worth it for you to let go of it and that'll be your reserve.

I actually have mine up for less than I paid for it at this point because I wanted to cash out to fund something else, but I am OK with keeping it too. I think the issue with mine is that it has too many repro parts for some people. That's OK, the upside is that it plays really well, it's a fun thing to have, and it's not a chore to wind up and listen to. While some folks feel repro parts are a mortal sin, I'd rather have the repro parts and have it bearable to use way more than having an expensive bookend.

To each his own.

Good luck with the sale. It's a nice machine! Don't let any Debbie Downers pick it apart. I'll bet a lot of us will be running on reproduction parts when we are that age, too!

I'll bet a lot of us will be running on reproduction parts when we are that age, too!

Good point! Jerry Blais

George, Harvey and Jerry

Thanks for your replies and I appreciate letting me know the correct terms for the parts.

The " trailing arm" has more wear than the photo shows,
especially where the hand would manipulate it back and forth,
but I guess it could be reproduction...... I wouldn't know how to tell.

Thanks also for telling about the "limiting arm".
It makes more sense for the missing part having that function
than being an extra soundbox rest that I first thought.

And thanks for the advice on the Debbie Downers but they don't really bother me.
I think when we get to our age,
their criticisms seem to bounce off rather easily.

And as far as us having some reproduction parts at our age,
I'd rather a few repro parts to keep me going,

than to be " ALL ORIGINAL ".............but room temperature.

Regards,
John

John,

Thanks for correcting that serial number for me. I thought I must be losing my mind, because certain characteristics of your Berliner were not making sense if it were in the 24,000 range. Again, thanks for correcting that "2" to a "1" for me.

Best,
George P.

Hi George,
I don't know if this adds to your database
but I just noticed the pitch control escutcheon
also has the same number stamped # 14133