The Talking Machine Forum — For All Antique Phonographs & Recordings

Recently bought it at an auction. It came with a detached stylus which I glued back on, put some oil on where the horn attaches on the rods and works perfectly. I’ve been researching Pathé models online but I found nothing like this? Bought for £290 was that a good price? Help would be appreciated

The Auctioneer described it as a "Pathé Perfecta". There are various "Perfecta" models and the nearest that I can find to yours is the Pathé Perfecta "LUXE" model - priced at a mere £3/17/6.

This is from the September 1904 Pathé catalogue but it's not a very good copy I'm afraid. Hopefully you should be able to make something out from the picture.
I believe it should have a key rather than a winding crank and I'm not sure that the horn is original to the machine but if it works........

All the best

Tim W-W

Thanks for the help, I’ve came across another forum recently that has one exactly like this one but with a different horn claiming he thinks it is a “Pathé model 0 diplomatic” http://www.pathefilm.uk/music/muspathe/muspathe.htm . Also I’m not quite sure what those slashes mean in that number, do you mean £3176? Or did you accidentally type them? Sorry I’ve never seen that before ,appreciate the help

It means 3 Pounds, 17 Shillings and 6 Pence, which is quite a lot considering an Edison Gem in 1904 would have only have cost 2 Pounds.

Yes indeed, it could be a "Diplomat"; these small Pathé machines are sometimes quite difficult to differentiate from one another.

Regards

Tim W-W

It's not a model 0, or at least it's not like the one I have, which is a far more primitive machine with a smaller motor. In fairness, I've seen mine called a "Democratique," not a "Diplomatique." A photo of the machine is here, as the header for my occasional column on TNT-Audio: https://www.tnt-audio.com/vintage/toc_e.html

I've seen eBay listings for machines like the one under discussion with a crank rather than a key, but I can't say whether they are "correct."

The one plus that I can see is that it appears to have the removable mandrel so you can play both larger diameter "salon"/"inter" cylinders as well as standard ones. It's not a huge plus because the salon cylinders are usually plagued with mold, but nonetheless it's an interesting variation.