FOR SALE: RARE 1897 LEVER WIND BERLINER GRAMOPHONE - $5900.

[Thevictrolaman]

FOR SALE: RARE 1897 Lever Wind Berliner Gramophone - $5,900. (Price Reduced from $6,500.). This is the first one of these that I have ever owned (even though I have sold more than 3,000 wind up phonographs over the last 45 years). They have always been a Rare and expensive item. This particular one came my way last year, but was missing the horn, reproducer, horn elbow and record hold down (usually missing on most machines anyway). I have completed the machine with a new horn, elbow and reproducer. The horn actually looks old, but I guess it is not an authentic original (although it cost me a lot of money to get it bought anyway!). The seller of this machine knew what it was, so it wasn't exactly bargain priced, but these things are so rare, that I decided to step up and buy it anyway. The motor runs fine, now that the larger fiber gear was replaced with a new one (some of the teeth were too worn on the old gear). The finish on the case has been gone over, but the decal is all original. Feel free to contact me via my e-mail or cell phone with any questions that you have. I don't visit the boards all that often (too busy working all of the time). My e-mail is: [email protected] or my cell phone is (630) 207-5128 (CST). I'm based in the Chicago area, and will be setting up at the Antique Phonograph Society "Midwest Music Expo" in Illinois in June, so I could deliver it there if someone wants to buy it and have it brought there. Hopefully I can find a new home for this Rare Early Talking Machine! Thanks for looking! Ron Haring, 17024 Frazier Road, Plano, Illinois 60545

[snakeo1]

You saved a nice piece of history Ron!

[Hoodoo]

I don’t mean to be “that guy”, but it looks to me that either the wooden travelling arm is too short (by about an inch and a half), or the support is too long. As it sits, it looks like the needle tip would fall far short of the spindle and so the tracking, especially at the outer edge of the record, would be really bad.

[JerryVan]

I don’t mean to be “that guy”, but it looks to me that either the wooden travelling arm is too short (by about an inch and a half), or the support is too long. As it sits, it looks like the needle tip would fall far short of the spindle and so the tracking, especially at the outer edge of the record, would be really bad.

I agree with your observations, but in searching the web for comparable machines, it appears that all if not most examples appear to have the same "issue".

This image, borrowed from Rene Rondeau's website, for example...

[paradroid1793]

I've seen 2 Berliner gramophones in person and the levers appeared the same. Probably a design flaw.

[TinfoilPhono]

I've owned 3 lever-winds over the past 25 years. All have had the reproducer sitting well short of the center.

Part of the problem is that it's common for the support arm to 'sink' into the wood of the base, forming deep dents and causing the arm to lean a bit forward, thus shortening the length of the traveling arm. But that amounts to only a little bit, nowhere near enough to make a major difference.

[Hoodoo]

Well, I am surprised by that! I wonder why they used short traveling arms on the lever wind machines.
Or, maybe they did likewise on other machines as well. It’s Google image search time!

[pallophotophone]

My 2 bits...
For all of the worn Berliner and early Victor and Columbia discs I've encountered, I'd theorise that tracking error wasn't a consideration when those early machines were built due to the short traveling arms. The traveling arm on my Victor E allows the soundbox to intersect the spindle perfectly.

[TinfoilPhono]

The early Berliner hand-powered Gramophone also had the reproducer off-track.

[Phono+888]

My Lever Wind also has the same issue, and you can see the support arm has sunken into the base and a piece of tin was installed but it is still sunken.