The Talking Machine Forum — For All Antique Phonographs & Recordings

Greetings,

There is a gramophone with a trademark label "UNOLLA", it is for sale here in the U.S. on an internet classified ad.
Sale price is $200 USD.

Does anyone have any information on this brand? Who manufactured this machine and possible years of production? Value estimate would be greatly appreciated.
We are asking in the B & E machine forum because it has so many similarities to our other European made gramophones.

Thank you for any info you may be able to share.

Looks thoroughly UK/European to me, Swiss components and a saxophone type horn. $200 is about the maximum worth, though this might sound better than it appears.

estott wrote:Looks thoroughly UK/European to me, Swiss components and a saxophone type horn. $200 is about the maximum worth, though this might sound better than it appears.

Agree.

I spotted a few photos of needle tins bearing the same logo, for sale on UK eBay -- ...a well as a table model that appears to be from about the same period -- mid to late 1920s -- FROM: https://www.findlotsonline.com/auction- ... ls/239019/

It looks to be a knock-off--fitted with Swiss-made components--of the HMV "New Gramophones." The larger floor models were fitted with very long saxophone-shaped horns to enhance bass output.

If you're interested, here's a circa 1925 brochure -- (Click to download HMV brochure in PDF format https://sounds.bl.uk/related-content/TE ... 0000A0.pdf )

OrthoFan

"UN" probably stands for United, as in United Kingdom.

estott wrote:"UN" probably stands for United, as in United Kingdom.

Or perhaps, in a pre-echo of 7-Up's "the un-cola" ad campaign, the Un-Victrola?

Uh, never mind....

Unolla was a trade mark of Larg & Sons of Dundee, a major Scottish gramophone and musical instrument dealer. It was registered in 1920; this gramophone is a typical 1920s design, and the horn is closer to the Apollo design of 1922 than to the full 'saxophone' shape of the 1926 HMVs. Unolla needle tins turn up fairly regularly, but Unolla records, mainly private recordings, were issued for a short time in the 1950s and are not common. See For the Record No 63 (Autumn 2017) for a note on these in the 'We also have our own Records' series.