My first Japan import, a red Columbia G-241

[nostalgia]

I finally could not resist it, I imported a red Columbia G-241 from Japan. The last Columbia model to be released from the Nippon Columbia factory, in 1951, according to the Kanazawa Phonograph Museum in Japan. https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File ... C00872.jpg

We can see the Nippon Columbia were using the Plano-Reflex arm to the very end and we can also see some other interesting things, for instance how they have changed the manual brake. It is a heavy horse, with a 2 spring motor too. They are pretty hard to find in decent conditions, most of them are rusty or torn, but this machine looked excellent, and that's why I could not resist it. It is always an excitement of course when importing a gramophone, how they are packed in particular, and I upload photos, so you can see how this machine was packed. It was far beyond expectations, where the bubble wrapped machine was safely put into a cradle of foam where it could not at all move around in the box.

You of course wonder about the price. I paid 220 Euro for it, but of course shipping and import tax is added, and without yet having received the import tax bill, the total will be around 400-450 euro. (The shipping alone was 120 Euro). Still, a colored HMV in good condition is expensive to buy, and I for two years now wanted a red portable to lighten up my sitting room, so I took the opportunity. Spoiled as I am with gramophone prices, this will actually be the most expensive machine I have bought to date, it may sound strange, knowing I have a HMV 163 and quite some horn machines in my possession, but it is still the truth. Still, I am very happy with the outcome, really. And, buying a good looking colored HMV 102 at current market price, would probably have cost me about the same, if I had lived in the UK.

By the way, is this a Garrard motor, or were these motors also manufactured in Japan?

I upload quite some photos for you to see, since we have, at least for now, lost so many photos on the forum, also of these Japan made Columbia portables.

[epigramophone]

A fine and rare portable Martin. I am sure that you would rather have it in your collection than the money in the bank.

It has the same three way autobrake as my G-208, and care needs to be taken when transporting it. With no manual brake it can sometimes start the motor running while it is being carried.
Again like my G-208 the motor is unmarked. I don't know whether Garrard was the manufacturer.

It is strange that this late model uses the Plano-Reflex tonearm, when my G-208 of c.1940 and similar models use the UK Columbia 204/HMV97 design. Another anomaly to add to the fascinating subject of Japanese portables.

Roger.