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I saw this one for sale, but I'm not sure whether it's a frankenphone or a genuine machine. What do you think?

Hi, That says "Dulceola" not Dulcephone.

Frankenphone - an internal horn cabinet with a back mount arm and a modified cygnet horn attached (possibly from a radio speaker). Looks to be a better job than most assemblages.

As others have said, this is a curious concoction of parts which never started life together.

Dulceola was a brand name of Barnett Samuel & Sons, musical instrument dealers since the 1830's and originators of the Decca portable gramophone in 1914. The Dulceola name was used on their internal horn machines during the 1920's.

Yes, Dulceola was one of Barnett Samuel's brands, and normally belongs on internal horn models. But, apart from the name, this is a perfectly genuine gramophone, from Ireland, and usually carries the brand name Marksman. Its cygnet-shape horn is, as far as I know, unique on a gramophone, and that blind fret on the front (normal on Marksmans) suggests a date of late 1920s-early 1930s. If Barnett Samuel had a hand in its production, perhaps they decided to use the Dulceola name on some examples. I would need to have a very close look at the name on the side of the case, to determine if it belongs!

Oedipus wrote:Yes, Dulceola was one of Barnett Samuel's brands, and normally belongs on internal horn models. But, apart from the name, this is a perfectly genuine gramophone, from Ireland, and usually carries the brand name Marksman. Its cygnet-shape horn is, as far as I know, unique on a gramophone, and that blind fret on the front (normal on Marksmans) suggests a date of late 1920s-early 1930s. If Barnett Samuel had a hand in its production, perhaps they decided to use the Dulceola name on some examples. I would need to have a very close look at the name on the side of the case, to determine if it belongs!

The red horn by itself is very interesting, and as Oedipus states is a "Marksman" horn. I have the same in green. I thought it was an aftermarket horn, so thanks for the extra info regarding Barnett Samuel.

So when someone tells you no original horn gramophone ever had a bevelled edge turntable, you now have another example to counter their argument with.

estott wrote:Frankenphone - an internal horn cabinet with a back mount arm and a modified cygnet horn attached (possibly from a radio speaker). Looks to be a better job than most assemblages.

I am very pleased to be proven wrong.

Perhaps it's worth the buying--Marksman horns can't be common, and even if it's a Marksman horn on a Dulceola, it's still a nice little phonograph & should sound nice.

I knew I'd seen that base with the blind fret before, and sure enough, there was one sold at Christie's in 1978, illustrated in the June 19789 Hillandale News (and again in the August issue). The name on the side was not Dulceola, but 'Wessex Gramophones M.S. Ltd', but it had a Barnett Samuel label underneath, and I was able to attribute it definitely to B.S., and date it to August 7 1928. However, it had an ordinary fluted metal horn.

I have a clear recollection of seeing such a base with a Marksman horn, but in Hillandale for December 1978 there is a gramophone with a Marksman horn on a German base. I seem to have known then that the machine had an Irish provenance, but cannot remember how I knew that!