The Talking Machine Forum — For All Antique Phonographs & Recordings

It may be a lost cause (certainly would be so in the US, where machines of this vintage are more plentiful) but for £40 I couldn't help rescuing this sad, grubby, derelict old thing from the back of one of those shabby chic vintage emporia over the weekend. It had been found in a damp barn (obviously).

I need to visit the vintage shops near you!!!

Id give at least £45

Definitely worth rescuing at this price. I would have paid more for the wood horn alone...
Please share pictures of the restoration process.

Thanks
Andreas

Me too - I love lost case gramophones unless they have woodworm or termites or 'whatever' that could demolish my house once introduced within 5 years.

alang wrote:Definitely worth rescuing at this price. I would have paid more for the wood horn alone...
Please share pictures of the restoration process.

Thanks
Andreas

I will - but it will probably be an age before I get round to it, as we're moving house soon. I'm giving it a light clean and it will go into storage.

Anyone have a motor or parts available for it? (I'll probably post a wanted ad in the trader section sometime in future.)

Good luck with your move. I just moved to a new house and my back has not yet recovered from schlepping 50 machines and a few thousand records and cylinders - in addition to our regular household stuff. It will take months until I will be able to find anything again, let alone work on my machines.

Andreas

Well done Andy, it would have been a sin to leave it there at such a bargain price. I even think it shows potential, and as you know better than I do these machines go for a *HUGE* amount of money here in Europe, so it's absolutely worth rehauling.

If the sound-box is the original 'Exhibition', as it appears to be, this alone would be worth the price paid.

Oliver Mundy.

Thanks all for the replies. I admit to knowing little about these machines but it looks to me to be a Model 2, HCO or HCM. Not much remains of the more informative of the two labels underneath, but do I see "...CM" faintly? Can anyone tell the year? (I don't have the relevant books.)

The condition is worse than the photos suggest, with broken case corners and the edge of the horn being very poor from damp (buckling, delaminating and small pieces of the inner layer gone) but yes, it does have its Exhibition soundbox.

Afraid I don't know much about them either, I think I'd agree with model 2, but it certainly looks like a great project, those horns look excellent when on display