The Talking Machine Forum — For All Antique Phonographs & Recordings

A couple years ago I met a guy up the road from me in Portland on eBay that had an unusual floor model phonograph (not this one) that he thought was an unusual Babson model (as did I) that wound up being an Amberola 30 in a home-made cabinet. Well, it's folk artsy enough and I've had fun with it.

As luck would have it, he saved my info and contacted me about another machine that turned up... just as I was running out the door for a trip back to Ohio to help my recently widowed mother with a bunch of stuff.

Anyways, between that and getting a hum- dinger of a virus on the flight back home, the fellow was kind enough to hold it for me and I finally went up Tuesday, handed him an envelope of cash, and brought her home.

Whatever it is, it looks like a professional- and very old- job. The cabinet sort of resembles an H&S cylinder cabinet, but it's not a style I can find an example of anyplace. The machine is a Standard B with a 2/4 conversion that has been dropped into the top of the cabinet, motor board and all. The cabinet has been made- or modified- so that the sliding arm is still used to prop the motorboard up to adjust speed and service, just like in the original cabinet. The top drawer has been "notched" at the back and a small tray fabricated for the crank, reproducers, etc. There is what looks like a specially made built in recepticle for the H&S adjustable scissor horn crane that holds the huge, all- brass H&S horn.

The horn has a horn bag!!! It's very tattered but there it is.

It has both the C and H reproducers in great shape, and it has a Tiz It. It also came with about 70 cylinders tucked in the drawers, all seem to have OBLs but a couple. It has an original witch's hat, too. About half the cylinders are Wax Amberols.

The cabinet is built like a tank, as is the glass cover. Even the rollers on the bottom of the cabinet are made from solid oak!

If this thing is home-made, someone had mad skills. The only real issues aside from dust and dirt is that the top of the cabinet is cracked due to drying out, and I've never seen a finish this alligatored. Even the glass in the top looks a little "wavy" in spots, just like early glass does.

Supposedly this was a one family owner machine from Ashland, Ohio and a couple cylinder boxes have a dealer stamp on them to bear this out.

The guy I got it from collects old juke boxes with a couple old record changers thrown in, and I guess he gets these machines occasionally as part of a collection.

So what do you think?

(BTW, pardon our mess- we are in the middle of a massive repainting project and where this is is the big "flop" room where we have all kinds of stuff just jammed at the moment.)

I think it's very interesting, unique, and ultimately cool! Congratulations!

Best,
Fran

I second what Fran said.
Very cool and interesting.

Gene

It looks to me like a BABSON BROS.(Chicago) Period "CONVERSION" Kit unit. Babson sold quite a few of these I think. I've seen others that have Hinged Case Covers and usually use the EDISON MODEL "B" HOME units, but very few that use the EDISON MODEL "B" Standards...at many Phonograph shows. I'll see if I can pull some old show pictures for examples. This particular unit utilizes an Edison Model "B" Standard Phonograph which is what is pictured. The Edison Model "B" Standard Phonograph in this unit has the later optional 2 minute/4 Minute Combination gearing which was added later to this phonograph. A Sweet find! The entire unit is definitely ALL PERIOD CORRECT. Not sure about the Wheel Casters though...I would need to see some closer pics of the Wheel Casters to make a better determination. At first, I thought that this may have been a "Homemade" unit, but one look at the Glass casing using the actual "Tiger OAK" wood on the casing made me think otherwise. Your average Joe way back then would have just used regular Pine most likely..

A NICE FIND! Clean it up (just dust it and use something like Murphy's Oil or even Lemon Pledge, and leave all the metal Patina'd and leave it completely as-is!!!!! I be proud to have this one in my collection... You should be proud of your find...as its a good one. I would say Just the Phonograph machine and outer casing alone is about $700.00... Add the Period correct Brass Horn, and Period Correct Crane, and you're talking about another $550-$600. I would say its all better as one unit which would probably fetch $1200 to $1300 or more I figure all together...Just a Guess...The nice Horn cover is a nice added bonus.. The Regular Black horn is tough to tell. I would like to see more close up pics of the Black Horn to see if its original...

How much did you pay for this wonderful find??!???

)

Tony K.

Edison Collector/Restorer

Wow! That is incredible! I love it! Congrats!

Great find especially with all the extras, reproducers, cylinders, horn, etc. As you said it appears they took the idea from a H&S under glass cabinet. Seeing that it's a Standard Model-B 2/4 min machine it must be a little difficult to get to the speed adjustment. That said it looks great and you should get a lot of enjoyment out of it.

Rich Gordon

Spectacular find especially for here on the North West Coast.

Cleaned up it will make a great center piece in your collection

Bruce

A great find, congratulations, luck smiled at you.

I like it, it looks original and period to me. I can't put a makers name on it, but I would clean it and display it proudly.

Larry Crandell

As stated before, your cabinet was probably inspired by Hawthorne & Sheble cabinets, but executed by a cabinetmaker. In all liklihood a one-off, which would make it unique. I don't think there's any doubt that it's period. There are a number of period photos showing similar craftsman-made cabinets; some with proud owners standing alongside them. Congratulations!

George P.