There was a lovely Klingsor gramophone on Antiques Roadshow

[JHolmesesq]

Hi everyone,

For those users in the UK, you may wish to watch tonight's edition of Antiques Roadshow. It featured a gorgeous Klingsor with attractive stained glass doors. The link is below:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b0 ... etchley_1/

If anyone can find a way outside the UK to view it, feel free. It begins at 19:33. Here is a print screen for those who cannot see it. It's a gorgeous machine and it was valued at £1000

[OrthoFan]

I can't get it to play, but I spotted a video of a smaller model -- http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x7y3qe ... 1910_music

Did they identify what model this was? Klingsors NEVER surface in my neck of the woods. I've only seen photos, and references to them in books and online. In fact, there was a brief discussion about them awhile back on this board, in which I learned that they were patented in the US in 1907 -- http://www.google.com/patents/about?id= ... &dq=899491

I remember that years back, the correct tuning of the strings was a mystery. Has anyone ever figured this out? I'd imagine, after tuning, the real challenge would be to get the record to spin exactly on pitch, so the strings vibrate in sympathy with the notes coming out of the horn.

[JHolmesesq]

He didn't identify the model unfortunately.

He said they took interest in to what gramophones looked like. Klingsor hid their gramophones in cabinets. The name Klingsor was taken from a Wagner opera.

He said the strings were a marketing campaign. They thought that as the sound resonated through the strings they would add to the music. The expert thought they didn't work much at all. The name Klingsor was patented in Germany in 1907 and they were made until 1925. The earlier ones were oak but that model was made from mahogany.

^The above was my transcript from the show

[OrthoFan]

I've always thought they were one of the more creative "off-brand" models, which is to say, they were not manufactured by the Big Three.

I've seen the BBC version of the Antiques Road Show, btw. They broadcast older episodes on the US public television network (PBS), in addition to the American version of the series.

Neither showcases gramophones/phonographs/talking machines all that often, so it's always a treat to see one profiled.

The main difference between the US and UK versions of the show, from what I've seen, involves the reaction of the people to the appraisals.

In the UK, they seem far more reserved:

"Based on current auction trends, a conservative estimate for your grandmother's broach would be about 25,000 Pounds."

"Oh..." (slight smile) "Oh, really.... How very pleasant."

A similar broach appraised on the American show:

"I can tell you that one just like it recently sold at Sotheby's Auction House in New York for $50,000.00"

"WHAT? YOU'RE KIDDING!!!! WWWWWWWWHHHHHHHHHHOOOOOOOO-WHHHHHHHHHEEEEEEEEEE!!! CHA-CHING!!! WE'VE HIT PAYDIRT!!! HONEY GRAB THE KIDS, WE'RE GOWIN' TO DISNEY LAND!!!!!"

[estott]

Another difference is the age of things- in America a piece of 18th C. furniture is just about the oldest thing you're likely to see, so the shows have a lot of collectibles. In the UK is likely to find 18th C. oriental porcelain in their garden shed. It's fascinating to hear how so many Brits have connections:

"So where did you get these Burmese opal earrings?"

"My wife's great-grandfather was Sir Watkin Basset, Governor-General of Burma. We've got loads of old rubbish from him tucked into the hall closet"

"well, they're absolutely delightful"

[Starkton]

"Klingsor" was the invention of Heinrich Klenk, manufacturer of musical instruments of Hanau, near Frankfurt on the Main. In 1905 he filed for three patents and registered a trademark.

Klenk sought to:
1. Hide a disc talking machine in an elegant cabinet;
2. Amplify the sound of piano and violin (a major drawback of talking machines at the time) with tensioned, tunable strings;
3. Improve the reproduction of all other sounds;
4. Combine a stringed instrument (zither or the likes) with a talking machine. In fact, you could accompany your gramophone.

At the Leipzig spring fair of 1906, Heinrich Klenk agreed with Reinhold Neumann of Halle, Germany to jointly exploit their ideas. While Klenk was known for metallic and "intensive" tones, Neumann had concentrated on beautiful cabinets of solid wood with somewhat mellow sound. Unfortunately, time wasn't ripe for expensive musical furniture and Neumann went bankrupt.

After the failure of Neumann, Klenk built up another business with merchant Hermann Krebs. The firm Krebs & Klenk was registered in Hanau in December 1907.

[antique1973]

Another difference is the age of things- in America a piece of 18th C. furniture is just about the oldest thing you're likely to see, so the shows have a lot of collectibles. In the UK is likely to find 18th C. oriental porcelain in their garden shed. It's fascinating to hear how so many Brits have connections:

"So where did you get these Burmese opal earrings?"

"My wife's great-grandfather was Sir Watkin Basset, Governor-General of Burma. We've got loads of old rubbish from him tucked into the hall closet"

"well, they're absolutely delightful"

Yeah, it is pretty funny to see the contrast between the US and UK version. In the US its mostly flea market knick knacks but in the UK it could be "Sir Walter Raleigh's
solid gold smoking pipe" or Dutch Master's paintings from the 1500's.

[estott]

My favorite was a modest middle aged woman who was in charge of managing the rubbish for a Council Estate and was allowed to go through it and keep anything she found. Most of the jewelry she recovered was junk, but she also found opals set in gold and diamonds set in platinum. The expert said it happened all the time- some old woman dies and the family looks at her jewelry and says "Gran couldn't have had anything nice, it must all be trash" and they pitch everything without looking.