The Talking Machine Forum — For All Antique Phonographs & Recordings

Got the Gem for $50. No motor however. Whats odd is there was a blue Amberol
on the mandrel and a model B reproducer. From what I can tell there is no
extra 4 min gearing. Probably whoever took out the motor took the 4 min gearing too.
The lid is in great shape but the wood base is missing. There is a winding key but not
sure that is an Edison winder. If anyone has a spare Gem motor laying around please
PM me. Thanks!

If a Gem has a slot on the right side of the lid, it's a crank wind. If there is no slot, it's a key wind. Some of the key wind are wound clock wise and others counter clock wise. It seems like there is more variation in early Gems than any other model. That makes it difficult to find the correct motor. Jerry Blais

Jerry B. wrote:If a Gem has a slot on the right side of the lid, it's a crank wind. If there is no slot, it's a key wind. Some of the key wind are wound clock wise and others counter clock wise. It seems like there is more variation in early Gems than any other model. That makes it difficult to find the correct motor. Jerry Blais

Thanks for the info Jerry. There is no slot on the lid and I am fairly certain its an early model B with key wind. After seeing a complete Gem sell for about $300 on Ebay, I am almost certain I will not be able to find a cost effective motor. I think my best bet
is to sell the parts and hold onto the Model B reproducer. I can use it on my
Standard in case I should come across some brown wax cylinders.

antique1973 wrote:

Jerry B. wrote:If a Gem has a slot on the right side of the lid, it's a crank wind. If there is no slot, it's a key wind. Some of the key wind are wound clock wise and others counter clock wise. It seems like there is more variation in early Gems than any other model. That makes it difficult to find the correct motor. Jerry Blais

Thanks for the info Jerry. There is no slot on the lid and I am fairly certain its an early model B with key wind. After seeing a complete Gem sell for about $300 on Ebay, I am almost certain I will not be able to find a cost effective motor. I think my best bet
is to sell the parts and hold onto the Model B reproducer. I can use it on my
Standard in case I should come across some brown wax cylinders.

Correction: I have a model A Gem with model B reproducer. I got my A's and B's confused!

I think you got a good buy on that Gem... the reproducer is worth more than you paid for the whole thing. Plus the lid looks very nice and will be an easy sale. The rest of it depends on who needs what parts and how badly they want them. The key, BTW, is a German clock key, not a phono key at all.

Jim

phonojim wrote:I think you got a good buy on that Gem... the reproducer is worth more than you paid for the whole thing. Plus the lid looks very nice and will be an easy sale. The rest of it depends on who needs what parts and how badly they want them. The key, BTW, is a German clock key, not a phono key at all.

Jim

Thanks Jim, parts-wise it was a good deal. I am on the fence about the lid, might
want to hold onto it since its practically mint. I can see running across a
Gem with a trashed or missing lid someday and it would be nice to have
the ready replacement. I was suspicious about the key also, and have since
confirmed it does not belong with the machine.

Don't be too anxious to sell the parts. Everything that's there is really nice. Who knows what you'll find in the next year or so. Buy a shabby Gem, take its motor and sell the shabby one as parts.

You can never have too many parts (though you can have not enough room )

Brad wrote:You can never have too many parts (though you can have not enough room )

True on both counts! I opted to sell the case, mandrel, carriage and
swing arm on Ebay. I will however hold onto the Model B reproducer and lid,
as odds are pretty high that I will find one minus the lid. I can use the
Model B on my standard for 2 min and brown wax cylinders so it will still be useful.

Imagine what would happen if we all held our extra parts and waited to use them ourselves.