The Talking Machine Forum — For All Antique Phonographs & Recordings

Hey everyone! I’m still pretty new to this, so any help is appreciated. I just got this really nice looking Edison Home (I believe a model A?) and I couldn’t really find anything online about one that looks like this. Was this custom painted? How much is it worth? How expensive was it back in the day? Again I’m new to this so any information you have is appreciated!

Overall I’m very happy with this purchase even though it needs quite a bit of cleaning and work done. I can’t wait to start working and see how it turns out.

I'd like to say this as gently as possible but you have something decorated in the seventies or later. It looks like it was done with the best intentions but it is definitely not something done by the Edison Factory or the local Edison dealer.

Jerry Blais

On the plus side it's a 2&4 minute Model B Home. It should be an excellent player when serviced. Jerry

Jerry B. wrote:I'd like to say this as gently as possible but you have something decorated in the seventies or later. It looks like it was done with the best intentions but it is definitely not something done by the Edison Factory or the local Edison dealer.

Jerry Blais

That’s kind of disappointing, but thanks for letting me know. For future reference, how do you know it was done in the 70s?

I like the way the inside of the horn has been decorated. The outside less so, but I would probably live with it.

I would personally redo the cabinet given the "shabby chic" re-decoration and the poor quality reproduction decal.

You'll need to replace the horn connector, but any type of rubber hose will do.

Did you get a C or H reproducer with it?

Yes that is definitely a painted Edison home. I do not like painted phonographs, but I will say that whoever painted it did a pretty good job.


I do like how the painted horn matches the paint on the cabinet.

52089 wrote:I like the way the inside of the horn has been decorated. The outside less so, but I would probably live with it.

I would personally redo the cabinet given the "shabby chic" re-decoration and the poor quality reproduction decal.

You'll need to replace the horn connector, but any type of rubber hose will do.

Did you get a C or H reproducer with it?

I agree I wasn’t too big a fan of the flowers, but I enjoyed the horn enough for me to buy it. It has an H reproducer.

LtFrenchFries wrote:

52089 wrote:I like the way the inside of the horn has been decorated. The outside less so, but I would probably live with it.

I would personally redo the cabinet given the "shabby chic" re-decoration and the poor quality reproduction decal.

You'll need to replace the horn connector, but any type of rubber hose will do.

Did you get a C or H reproducer with it?

I agree I wasn’t too big a fan of the flowers, but I enjoyed the horn enough for me to buy it. It has an H reproducer.

Good. Then you can play all 4-minute cylinders. Keep your eyes open for a C so you can play 2-minute molded cylinders too!

Glad you bought it!

That one gives you license to do a complete strip-down and refinish, and it's comparatively easy to make an Edison look very clean and fresh again. It should look like brand new when you finish it, or if you want to leave it as-is, it won't be too hard to fix the motor and reproducer.

For future reference, how do you know it was done in the 70s?

I became active in the hobby in the 1970s and the decal on your Home looks like what was first available to collectors back then. That's all we had and you could spot a new decal across a room. Now we have decals that are difficult to tell from originals. Decal buyers beware... People are still selling junk decals on eBay and Facebook Marketplace. You are wasting your time if you apply a bad quality decal on an otherwise quality restoration.

Jerry Blais