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This looks like the classic case of a phonograph being gutted for a liquor cabinet (look at the photos carefully). The case is so flamboyant though. Does anyone know what this machine was originally?

No, but it wa a darn nice radio once upon a time.

One of the pictures shows what looks to be wooden disc dividers. Could this have been a Columbia period case?
Bob

It is a nice cabinet, indeed.

Hard to say for sure. Those divider looking pieces don't exactly look like they would hold records since they are so shallow? The cabinet appears to be the kind where a long 20's type radio may have been in the bottom and the opening may be from a speaker mounted behind? Just guessing, it is beautiful and mysterious?

Larry

gramophoneshane wrote:No, but it wa a darn nice radio once upon a time.

I was wondering if it might not have been a radio too, since the speaker was so small. The storage area with what appeared to be record dividers made me lean toward thinking of it as a record player. Maybe it was an early radio/phono combo?



Sure would like to know for certain.

It looks like a mid '20s radio cabinet to me. The radio would have been in the upper part of the cabinet with batteries or spare tubes below. On these, the speaker was usually separate and either sat on top of the cabinet or on another piece of furniture, or on the mantel over the fireplace. It wasn't until about 1928 that radios started to be commonly made for use on line current from home outlets. That is why the Victor radio-phonographs started out with battery powered radios.
In the area where I live, the farms nearby did not have AC lines to supply electricity until 1954! The towns [and the farmers lucky enough to live on the roads where the power lines ran] had it about 1935.

That's what I think too. Would this not be where the dial once was?

I think the opening in the front was for a speaker. Also, if you look closely, you can see a slide out panel in the photograph. What the heck would that have been for? It looks like it has a panelled edge, so I don't think it would've been a record shelf. If it's meant to slide up and close over the front, then why make the front so elaborate?