The Talking Machine Forum — For All Antique Phonographs & Recordings

Spied this rather gorgeous electric Sonora machine on CL. Given that it likely needs a good amount of work, I don't know about the price, but it's certainly a model you don't see every day. Not mine.

https://providence.craigslist.org/atq/d ... 19215.html

This is a real treasure. I hope someone on the forum can restore it.

Wow! If I were on the East Coast I'd try to acquire it. Sadly, too far away.

A few things to watch for. The seller has been looking for the missing tubes since they bought the machine 8 years ago, (they posted here and on a radio forum). It appears that the machine has a blown speaker as well.

The machine doesn't match the one in the photo from Emily Davies Vanderbilt's apartment either. The machine in that photo and in Sonora literature, (Antique Phonograph Society Book on Sonora), had different hardware on the doors, different veneer below the doors and different feet. This example has either been altered or is just a little different than the ones in those images, (I'm leaning toward altered because the knobs, veneer and feet don't seem right to me). I would look closely to see if there is any sign that different hardware was removed from the doors. Still quite a machine, but maybe a bit problematic.

Django wrote:A few things to watch for. The seller has been looking for the missing tubes since they bought the machine 8 years ago, (they posted here and on a radio forum). It appears that the machine has a blown speaker as well.

The machine doesn't match the one in the photo from Emily Davies Vanderbilt's apartment either. The machine in that photo and in Sonora literature, (Antique Phonograph Society Book on Sonora), had different hardware on the doors, different veneer below the doors and different feet. This example has either been altered or is just a little different than the ones in those images, (I'm leaning toward altered because the knobs, veneer and feet don't seem right to me). I would look closely to see if there is any sign that different hardware was removed from the doors. Still quite a machine, but maybe a bit problematic.

I agree completely..I would be suspicious of this piece. One could look for decades and maybe never get this right.