The Talking Machine Forum — For All Antique Phonographs & Recordings

I found this poster at an antique shop in Owego, NY. It is dated 1925, which was a period when the radio was cutting into sales of not only phonographs but pianos as well. This poster is from an important turning point in musical entertainment. It's fun to look at the prices--it'd be nice to pay that much nowadays!

Great ad!

I'm wondering if part of the motivation for the sale, in addition to the inroads made by radio, was the fact that the improved Victor, etc., models would be hitting the market in late November of that year. I know that Victor launched a massive sale of all in-store products and warehouse stock a few months before the Orthophonic models were introduced. According to "From Tinfoil to Stereo," some dealers "threw them out" for half-price.

OrthoFan

Great ad indeed.

It's possible that the models illustrated were the work of typesetters using stock engravings to show representative examples of the machines. Still---what looks like a VV-80 for $23 and a Brunswick console machine at $49 must have been tempting. No doubt a number of these fine instruments had takers at these prices. The public didn't know what was to come with Victor Day or the Brunswick Panatrope, and may not have cared at the time, since that technology was priced higher than what we see here. Still. Radio was making inroads on their entertainment budgets, and you couldn't get sports events, farm reports or church services on a player piano or phonograph. Then as now, some families had only just so much money to spare and made the best choices they could.

(Anecdotal story from the day: the rural housewife was asked why they owned a Model T but not a bathtub; answer "you can't go to town in a bathtub".)

Spread the word...

The old JJ Newberry building?

Yep,that's where the Early Owego Antique Center is located.BTW;after Newberry's closed it was a dollar store,then after that closed it was used as a distribution center after the 2011 flood.The store's cleaner now than when it was a dollar store.edisonplayer

It's a nice co-op

The ad also said"50 free record selections given away with a new Kimball phonograph".I wonder if they had any good jazz and blues records?edisonplayer