The Talking Machine Forum — For All Antique Phonographs & Recordings

Welp. For years I wanted an older pre-1900 machine but just never had the opportunity until today.

Apparently this was one of the rare “caseless” Columbia Eagles?

I don’t know the serial number but the spring barrels as George told me give this away as being a 1897 or early 1898 machine?

Ok doing a little more research and asking the seller if there is any serial number on it which the seller could not find of any kind confirms this to be a 1st version of the eagle!

More photos

Andy,

As I wrote to you earlier, your Eagle is the early type, manufactured between mid-1897 and mid-1898. That determination is made by examining the spring barrels - not through the serial number. There's no way to know if yours was originally sold as a caseless Eagle because the belt cover is missing. On caseless Eagles, the serial number was stamped on the belt cover. A belt cover with no serial number denotes a cased Eagle. A missing belt cover and no case means a mystery, but based on the missing bolts at all corners I'd bet that your Eagle was originally cased. (Plus, uncased Eagles are relatively scarce.)

Again, most any questions on the Eagle can be answered in this thread:

https://forum.antiquephono.org/topic/32 ... /#comments

George P.

phonogfp wrote: Fri Feb 17, 2023 9:22 pm Andy,

As I wrote to you earlier, your Eagle is the early type, manufactured between mid-1897 and mid-1898. That determination is made by examining the spring barrels - not through the serial number. There's no way to know if yours was originally sold as a caseless Eagle because the belt cover is missing. On caseless Eagles, the serial number was stamped on the belt cover. A belt cover with no serial number denotes a cased Eagle. A missing belt cover and no case means a mystery, but based on the missing bolts at all corners I'd bet that your Eagle was originally cased. (Plus, uncased Eagles are relatively scarce.)

Again, most any questions on the Eagle can be answered in this thread:

https://forum.antiquephono.org/topic/32 ... /#comments

George P.

Ohhh so it WAS cased! Well looks like I’m on the lookout for a case after all! (I also need a speed control knob too)

For reference, My eagle is serial number 60, very early production and has a case.
-Josh

Josh_boro20 wrote: Fri Feb 17, 2023 10:24 pm For reference, My eagle is serial number 60, very early production and has a case.
-Josh

Broadway case with 3 addresses?

I’ll send a photo tomorrow when I get home for you to compare. It should be the same as yours.

Josh_boro20 wrote: Fri Feb 17, 2023 11:27 pm I’ll send a photo tomorrow when I get home for you to compare. It should be the same as yours.

Ok I wanna make sure what to look for when I get a replacement case.

That's most of one anyway--it's going to look nice all fixed up!

VanEpsFan1914 wrote: Sat Feb 18, 2023 1:53 pm That's most of one anyway--it's going to look nice all fixed up!

I think my biggest obstacle is probably getting the right base to put it on and see if it has the lower S/N on it since the S/N is unknown but was made during its first year of production.

I wonder if it’s just screwed in or if there are some rubber or felt washers involved with bolts and nuts??


I know I can just get a 3 Broadway address lid which I assume was the label of graphophones of this vintage it’s getting a correct bottom that will be tricky.


I know where to get the winding key, horn, and reproducer from but I wonder if I can get a belt cover and speed control easy?

As usual my biggest hindrance is not having enough Cash left over after my needs are taken care of. But my next move will be getting a winding key first.