The Talking Machine Forum — For All Antique Phonographs & Recordings

seen this in a local shop. Trying to figure out info on this. Any help please.

Guess it does not matter now. Guy wanted $400.

Columbia Grafonola Favorite (introduced 1911) or Model 50 (introduced 1915). Nice machine, fairly popular. $400 seems a bit steep to me.

Yeah, I thought it was real steep and passed.

VV XI wrote: Sat Nov 20, 2021 7:17 pm Yeah, I thought it was real steep and passed.

For a tabletop Grafonola that is a bit steep you could do better. $250 would be a fair price.

""""""just $400? my guy for this rarity i'm prepared to give you 6"""""" just to make his day for ten seconds.

I don't know what you're willing to pay, but I'm pretty sure the seller won't get it sold at $400. Visit it again in a month or so and make a cash offer. Repeat as needed.

In an extreme case, my dad talked an antique shop dealer down from $200 to "free"! She even helped load it in our car. You never know...

And it is worth waiting for--This style of Grafonola is very heavy and usually sounds quite bad at first blush. So that keeps the casuals away. The funny thing is though that there's often a 3-spring beast of a motor inside, just like on a large upright, and the large soundbox can be rebuilt and the tonearm restored to give it the original tone quality that made this a popular machine.

Besides it's oak, and everyone loves oak. It matches modern furniture way easier than mahogany.

I would not mind having it. At first look the wood seemed in good shape. The tone arm is missing all screws. It's just sitting there and flops around. The reproducer seems loose to me as well. I'll check back after some time, but I'm afraid he thinks he is sitting on gold.

If I do go back later, is there anything I can look at to narrow down a year and model?