The Talking Machine Forum — For All Antique Phonographs & Recordings

Recent arrival ... I can only find some limited information on this machine ... !920's? 1930's? Definitely for vertical cut records, of which I have 0 ... Waiting for a shipment from Ebay ... There are two of these on different sites ... The one on YouTube has a red Identification tag and plays lateral cuts ... the other seems to be the same as this on but has the speed controller above the brake ... Any help appreciated. Kess.

That's a neat little machine... I wondered who snagged it...

Did you acquire this one from Shopgoodwill? I was tempted!! Nice!!!

Cute little portable! I wonder how it sounds. The Pathé vertical system would be ideal for a cameraphone portable, with no needle to change.

Yes, Goodwill auction... I suspect there wasn't much interest because they couldn't verify it was complete... Ken

Why do you call it a Pathé Diamond? Pathé's are famous for using sapphire balls.

marcapra wrote:Why do you call it a Pathé Diamond? Pathé's are famous for using sapphire balls.

True, but Pathé had a subsidiary line called "Diamond." In fact, sapphire ball cut records were for sale in France on the "Disque Diamond" label; I'm not sure they were a Pathé product, but whoever put them out, I assume they must have predated a product by a certain guy from Menlo Park.

In all events, my "avatar" machine is marked "Diamond," but the cone unit is marked "Diffusor Pathé." I assume the little portable machine under discussion must also bear a Diamond marking.

This is a Pathé Model 108 portable gramophone from the early 20s, according to the gentleman who posted this video to YouTube:
https://youtu.be/VeZfBCmyzvU

The fellow has an antique business in Spain and at one time offered the machine for sale - it is long gone from his website.

There’s no indication it was ever labeled as a “Diamond” product.

Diamond is the brand name for the lowered-priced Pathé machines. Similar to Gramola as a low-priced brand of HMV, and before that, Zonophone was the budget brand, after the Gramophone Co bought it. There are numerous examples of Diamond machines, including the above portable, to me one of the nicest of the Diamond machines. Pathé started their Diamond line in the 20s, and most of the machines look stern, without the lavish adornments of their Pathé predecessors, but the mechanical components are the same as the ones used in the main brand.

Well the records arrived and all seems to be well.... The volume is considerably lower than any of my other manual machines.. a couple of Edison cylinders, a scattering of Victrolas ... a nifty 20's Pal and a couple of consoles ... Happy to take more photos if anyone needs them.. Ken. Very strange but well built machine.