What's THIS then?

[Operafan]

http://cgi.ebay.com/Gramophone-Edison-N ... %26ps%3D63

Does it have anything to do with Edison at all??

Jeff

[bbphonoguy]

It looks like something that was cobbled together out of various Edison parts. It's definitely odd, whatever it is.

[phonophan79]

Hah, I like it! It's an open works player.

[Jerry B.]

Someone went to a lot of work to build it. I'm not sure "cobbled" is the correct word but I would agree that the effort and expense would have been better spent on something else.

[Paal1994]

Oh no!
Have they started to make Edison Crap-O-Phones too!?

Paal.

[Brad]

I have been kicking around doing this with an old edison motor board just to show visitors how such a beast works. Some time was taken with this one. Though the only thing Edison appears to be the horn and dampening ball. Everthing else is from other donors.

Still, you have to appreciate the effort and attention to detail, however, I would not put much value on it other than as a curiosity.

[gramophoneshane]

Having a non-Edison motor, there'd be no way to feed the horn and soundbox across the record.
I guess you just have to rely on the swivel of the 78 adaptor. You wouldn't want to play any good records on it.

[estott]

Someone put a lot of work into a fraud.

[phonogfp]

I like the part about how "someone who knows [his] way around gramophones will know how old this one is..." Yeah - there's the rub!

But a little learning is a dangerous thing: whoever put this thing together saw some Edison documentation that cited the National Phonograph Company. That metal plate adds a seemingly authentic touch, but the forger didn't know that after 1910, Edison Phonographs were sold by Thomas A. Edison, Inc.

This reminds me of an eBay seller who was peddling a phony Columbia calendar for quite some time. Luckily, he didn't know that the Columbia Phonograph Company changed its name to the Columbia Graphophone Company in 1913. The year of his supposedly original calendar didn't correspond with this fact, which helped explain its "pristine condition!"

George P.

[estott]

Judging by the seller's other auctions I'd take him at his word- it looks as if he knows radios but is clueless about vintage phonographs. He has a keywind Gem machine in a branded case- I think it's been touched up (and has an Edison-Bell plate) but it's starting at a low price with no reserve. Likewise he's selling a nice looking Palliard horn machine starting at One Euro. Someone might actually get a good deal here. . . .if the seller can pack decently