Very Late Columbia BX Graphophone

Oceangoer1 · Post by **Oceangoer1** » Sat Jun 03, 2017 1:37 pm

I seem to have loaded myself up with projects for the summer

Here is a very late (1906?) Columbia BX. It is missing some parts but I do expect it to clean up well.

-Connor

phonogfp · Post by **phonogfp** » Sat Jun 03, 2017 1:45 pm

Joe,

That's a very late BX all right - I know of only one with a higher number, but that's over 430,000 so there must be others out there.

If yours retains the mandrel tag, I'd like to see a photo of it.

Thanks for posting this!

George P.

Oceangoer1 · Post by **Oceangoer1** » Sat Jun 03, 2017 2:14 pm

phonogfp wrote:If yours retains the mandrel tag, I'd like to see a photo of it.

Unfortunately, the mandrel tag is missing

On a side note, over the weekend, I was examining a friend's Graphophone B and his had a serial in the 83,000 range, making it a pretty early example. It also had Kansas City, MO as the city on the Graphophone decal (mine has New York and London). I thought it was neat to compare the two.

-Connor

Django · Post by **Django** » Sat Jun 03, 2017 4:16 pm

It's hard to see from the pictures, are the spring barrels plated or natural? I have a nickel plated B with a high serial number from the first set, 198,896, (the number is higher than the Columbia Phonograph Companion Volume 1 says it should be, but there it is. The serial numbers are listed as 80040-190857 and then they begin again at 406336). Mine has natural barrels and black governor weights. I also have to do some dusting. I don't know if this is a BXP, a marriage or something else, but I am sure that the serial number is authentic.

Django · Post by **Django** » Sat Jun 03, 2017 6:30 pm

If anyone has any information regarding the plated machines and whether or not the weights or spring barrels are correct on the machine above, the information would be greatly appreciated. The odd serial number makes me think that this may be in an unknown region.

Thanks

Victrolacollector · Post by **Victrolacollector** » Sat Jun 03, 2017 7:31 pm

I have seen two styles of spring barrels in the B type machines. One has two plates to hold them together and the other is the type with overlapping type plates as pictured in the above pics. Which type is correct to which machine?

phonogfp · Post by **phonogfp** » Sat Jun 03, 2017 8:46 pm

Oops - sorry Connor! For some reason I thought that Joe Filer was the OP...!

Django wrote:It's hard to see from the pictures, are the spring barrels plated or natural? I have a nickel plated B with a high serial number from the first set, 198,896, (the number is higher than the Columbia Phonograph Companion Volume 1 says it should be, but there it is. The serial numbers are listed as 80040-190857 and then they begin again at 406336). Mine has natural barrels and black governor weights. I also have to do some dusting. I don't know if this is a BXP, a marriage or something else, but I am sure that the serial number is authentic.

All B Graphophones have plated parts, but only the BXP has polished parts. No. 198896 shown above looks to have parts from a conventional Eagle and parts from a BXP. This serial number does not fall within the range (or even near the range) of serial numbers for known BXPs.

You may be misreading or misinterpreting the serial numbers in the Hazelcorn book. No.80040 is the earliest Eagle known, and it's a conventional example. The BXP didn't appear until the Eagle was about a year into production.

Django wrote:If anyone has any information regarding the plated machines and whether or not the weights or spring barrels are correct on the machine above, the information would be greatly appreciated. The odd serial number makes me think that this may be in an unknown region.

Thanks

The governor weights are not correct for a BXP. The spring barrels are the correct design, but they don't appear to have been polished.

Victrolacollector wrote:I have seen two styles of spring barrels in the B type machines. One has two plates to hold them together and the other is the type with overlapping type plates as pictured in the above pics. Which type is correct to which machine?

The spring barrels held together by plates are earlier; being supplanted by the tabbed spring barrels around No.145000.

Oceangoer1 wrote: On a side note, over the weekend, I was examining a friend's Graphophone B and his had a serial in the 83,000 range, making it a pretty early example. It also had Kansas City, MO as the city on the Graphophone decal (mine has New York and London). I thought it was neat to compare the two.

-Connor

I'm not aware of any original Graphophone decals that list Kansas City as one of the company offices. The decal in question must be a retailer's decal applied over the lower right-hand portion of the banner. Was it the Kansas City Talking Machine Company? I like the retailer's decals, and they don't turn up very often.

There are two articles that have appeared in the Antique Phonograph Society journal which described and illustrated the production variations seen over the life of the Eagle Graphophone.

George P.

Oceangoer1 · Post by **Oceangoer1** » Sun Jun 04, 2017 4:02 pm

phonogfp wrote:I'm not aware of any original Graphophone decals that list Kansas City as one of the company offices. The decal in question must be a retailer's decal applied over the lower right-hand portion of the banner. Was it the Kansas City Talking Machine Company? I like the retailer's decals, and they don't turn up very often.

I should've grabbed some pictures, my bad. Although now that you mention it, I do think it was a grayish colored "Sears Roebuck - Kansas City, MO" decal that someone fit in the lower right hand part of the decal. I looked on some past posts on the forum and saw similar B's with added Sears decals and different cities.

-Connor

Website · Post by **FellowCollector** » Sun Jun 04, 2017 5:39 pm

For additional picture reference purposes I've included a few images of my Columbia Nickeled & Polished Eagle. I agree with all that George stated above. The ID plate on mine is also included in the pictures.

Doug