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I purchased (for far too much money) this Pooley phonograph.

http://imgur.com/a/7jJsk

Works and looks great, but the [Made Specially for Lit Brothers]; plaque made me have to have it. If you don't know about Lit Brothers, don't worry about it.

It works wonderfully, and came with a stack of records to boot.

It has a slide damper (the knob above and to the right of the crank on the side) and no other marking other than what is in the photographs.

Considering Pooley didn't even begin making machines (under their brand) until 1918 or so, I'm guessing this is a step up from entry-level model circa 1928? I don't know, I'm taking shots in the dark.

Anyone knows anything more, please fill me in (as, you know, the clueless thing).

Nice looking machine.

The applied moldings lift this out of the ordinary category and give it some class. Nice find!

toomuch wrote: Considering Pooley didn't even begin making machines (under their brand) until 1918 or so, I'm guessing this is a step up from entry-level model circa 1928? I don't know, I'm taking shots in the dark.

It would be earlier than that. By 1925/1926, the Orthophonic Victrola, Columbia Viva-Tonal, and all of the other models designed to play electrically recorded records were in production. By 1928, they were firmly established in the market, and the classic style talking machine, emulating the style of the Victrola, was considered old hat--with few exceptions in the US market, such as some of the Silvertone Tru-Phonic junior models. Flat lids, and boxy cabinets were all the rage during the late 1920s.

Here's a Pooley phonograph ad from 1927, for instance:

Along this line, even the less expensive off brand models of 1928 would have been fitted with constantly tapered tonearms--again emulating those used on Orthophonic Victrolas--along with (their versions of) longer horns.

Since the tonearm, etc., look to be original, I'd date it from the late teens to about 1924.

DS

Beautiful machine---congratulations! Made by Pooley and sold by Lit Bros.---a real Philadelphia product. The cabinet shares several details with the VV-XI: flared legs terminating with the curlicue on top, curved bottom edges on the sides, lid (a dead ringer for the Victrola), round speed adjuster, but with nicer embellishments like the applied molding on the side surfaces and a gracefully-cut grill. In design terms I'd classify all of the above under the heading Art Nouveau, which actually achieved popularity in Europe at at earlier date (pre-WWI). The Austrian equivalent was called Jugendstil. Nice grab!

BTW, Lit Bros. was a department store on Market St. in Phila. The building is landmarked, and still exists, not far from the famous Reading Terminal with its market, now the Pennsylvania Convention Center.