The Talking Machine Forum — For All Antique Phonographs & Recordings

...ok corny subject joke...

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?Vi ... 0358167131

(from the auction:)
ORIGINAL BROCHURE OF ESTATE HEATROLA

SHAPED LIKE OUTSIDE PHONOGRAPH - 1920's

VERY UNIQUE HEATER SOLD IN THE 1920's THAT WAS SHAPED LIKE AN OUTSIDE PHONOGRAPH. IT WAS SPONSORED BY COLUMBIA.

Various stoves can be found in this period that copied the cabinet styles of phonographs of the time. While the Heatrola is at a glance somewhat in that vain, I have seen some that were nearly identical in detail and shape to a real phonograph. Someone had one on ebay at some point that had lots of decorative trims and other features that made it the closest thing to a phonograph that I had seen in a stove. At one time a shop not too far from here had one so close to the shape of a Sonora curved sided cabinet that I wasn't sure from a distance which it was. Almost all these stoves were from a period where coal was the preferred heat source so for us that use wood, they have little practical value.

did you just come across those images? I remember seeing one of those - the actual heater - on ebay about two years or so ago. I don't believe it sold, and the opening bid was something in the $500 to $1000 range I think, although it could have been less.

I think if you check the ebay listings now you will find a nice one either in the for sale or completed items list. (its in the completed list, not sure that was the really nice one that ran recently I didn't look too close. There is a Heatrola bank running however that one might get if you really enthused about his heater/victrola.