The Talking Machine Forum — For All Antique Phonographs & Recordings

I was making new room and straitening out my collection when I had three home suitcases side by side. There were a lot of differences that was leading up to the home A longcase design. The first had the name plate in the front. The second had the name plate moved from the front to the back with the s/n embossed in the front. The third had the s/n only in the id plate in the back . That was how the long box ended up with a larger black embossed ID plate. The pictures are from newest to oldest designs. Tom B

Gotta love those lid decals!

There's an even older design with a reproducer rest in the top casting.

I love that dealer plate in your last picture. I wish I had that -- it's from my home town, where I started collecting well over 50 years ago. I've never seen that one before.

those lid decals take a lot of work and post its are getting expensive. I had to inventory them which is what I am doing now. Some of them have not been touched for years and need minor work to keep them up. I just replaced 16 rubber feet on four of them. One of them that I refinished needs to have the base plate refinished again as it has cracked. It is on a home E so the decals are hard to put on. A couple I want to replace parts as they were some f my first ones I worked on and I did not have the knowledge to fix them right. All are complete and play. I now have my standards to go thru.. It keeps my mind occupied . Tom B

TinfoilPhono wrote:There's an even older design with a reproducer rest in the top casting.

I love that dealer plate in your last picture. I wish I had that -- it's from my home town, where I started collecting well over 50 years ago. I've never seen that one before.

that is neat. Do you know the serial number range. My lowest on is around 12000. Tom B

My earliest Suitcase Home in No 2092. It does not have the carriage rest but has the notch in the brake slot.