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saw this on Ebay - anyone know anything about it ? Was it sold as an accessory by Zonophone ? Why is it in French - wasn't aware Zonophone had a french connection ? Any ideas ??

I have one of those, and have seen several others over the years. They are scarce but they do turn up. One side held new needles, the other side held worn ones. Originally that had a cover over the used section, with a small hole to drop the needles through. That is usually missing today.

One sold on eBay in October, with the cover intact, for $126.65. LINK

Zonophone was big in Europe. Shortly after the turn of the 20th century, Universal Talking Machine Company opened a European branch office called the International Zonophone Company, based in Berlin. Using motors and reproducers manufactured in the United States by Universal, with cabinets and horns made in Europe, these Zonophones were produced in a fascinating variety of styles that were sold in England, France, Italy, and Germany. There are lots of them pictured in the Fabrizio/Paul books.

Brilliant ! never seen one !

Thanks for the information ! It looks as though the buy it now price of £14 was a good deal.......

Gramtastic wrote:saw this on Ebay - anyone know anything about it ? Was it sold as an accessory by Zonophone ? Why is it in French - wasn't aware Zonophone had a french connection ? Any ideas ??

They certainly had a “french connection” as some of their gramophones appear sometime on eBay.fr or flea-markets.
We found our black Zonophone needles “box” a very long time ago, opened it and found this wonderful needles tin inside...

That's a really nice tin! I've never seen that one before. I like it a lot.

I'm with Rene....what a great looking Zonophone needle tin. Here is what the used needle cover looks like. I thought these black boxes were made of paper mache..?.

Thanks for the photo of the missing cover - very useful !!

Thats a first for me too. I've never seen that tin. Thanks for posting.

TinfoilPhono wrote: Zonophone was big in Europe. Shortly after the turn of the 20th century, Universal Talking Machine Company opened a European branch office called the International Zonophone Company, based in Berlin. Using motors and reproducers manufactured in the United States by Universal, with cabinets and horns made in Europe, these Zonophones were produced in a fascinating variety of styles that were sold in England, France, Italy, and Germany. There are lots of them pictured in the Fabrizio/Paul books.

The Zonophone needle box in question is shown on page 152 of Antique Phonograph Accessories & Contraptions. (A smaller example is shown on page 144 of the same book.)

http://forum.talkingmachine.info/viewto ... ilit=Books

George P.