The Talking Machine Forum — For All Antique Phonographs & Recordings

I picked up this horn this morning at a local antique store. Seems to be in pretty good shape. Its been painted and someone drilled a hole near the end when tio attaches to the phonograph presumably to hang it on the wall. Any idea who made it?

That looks quite a bit like a regular
Edison 10-panel horn for a Standard cylinder phonograph.

Could also be an aftermarket horn made by the
Tea Tray Company.

Edison also used Tea Tray Co. as a contractor
to make the regular Edison horns.

So, my guess is that it's most likely one of those
2 things.

How does it balance when it's picked up and held
by the ring? If it balances nicely, at a slight upward
slope, then it is most likely one of those two above
mentioned things.

That's a real nice horn! It's in very decent shape.
It ought to belt out the sound quite loudly!

Chuck, thats what I was hoping to hear! It balances very nicely. I do have some questions about the paint. Do these have a slight texture in the paint or should it be smooth? This one is slightly textured but, it could have been the paint they used. I want to repaint it and add the correct decals . Also, Ive seen some of these where the panel lines and rolled edges were painted gold. I see some that appear to be a high gloss black on the inside and a semi-gloss on the outside. What is the correct paint scheme? I paid $100.00 for it. Now, I need to find a front mount for my Standard. I did hold it up to my player with a hose connected and it sounded great.

$100 is not too bad. Others here will gladly post
pictures of their Edison 10-panel Standard horns
so you can see the proper paint job. The black is
usually shiny gloss, the seams are gold. You can
certainly do all of that yourself and end up with
a real beauty, looking almost brand new. I picked mine
up at the Union show back in 1980. It has a small
smudge on the decal and some tiny dents. It cost me $75
way back then. As a matter of fact, you can see it
on the vids linked from my website.

I thought the price was fair, especially around here. There are hardly any phonographs or horns in my area. i was lucky to find this one. In fact, its the only one I recall seeing in a long time.
So, it should be gloss black. Smooth inside and out?

Yep. Shiny black inside and outside as far as I know.
They called that finish "japan", for some reason.

Others will clarify all of that.

I'd be willing to bet that the use of any rather
high-quality gloss black paint would do the job
nicely. Then get some gold paint (sign painter's paint
maybe?), and a nice fine brush and do the gold striping
along the seams. Then get a Gregg Cline decal.

Sounds like a plan! Does it matter if get a decal that says 'HOME" or "STANDARD" ?

Chuck is correct - that's a Tea Tray Co. horn. Below are are a couple of quickie photos I just took to show the decal placement (should be "Standard") and the shininess of the black paint. Although the finish is perfectly smooth, the gloss is more matte than glossy. Krylon has (or used to have) a "Matte Black" that replicates this effect nicely.

Gold stripes are on the outside, but not on the inside (except around the rolled edges of the petal ends).

Measurements are 19" wide (from tip to tip between petals) and 32" long.

Hope this helps.

George P.

Thanks George!

Glad to help - -

George P.