The Talking Machine Forum — For All Antique Phonographs & Recordings

Hi everyone, Im in desperate help in the history and value of my old gramophone. Ive search the web for two hours and can not find anything on this machine I have. I can send pictures anywhere but will best describe it in words. I think this gramophone dates back to the 1920s, it is a stand up cabinet, oak, dark walnut stain with a closing hood. There is no date to be found anywhere, The underside of the hood has a label that says Coronet with Rec and a capital D and a period and picture of a crown under it. The box also has a stamp that reads: Heaton Gramophone Salon, 45 Heaton Road, Newcastle. I dont believe it is a fake repo. but not sure. It is old foresure. In general, it is in good condition and still plays the 78 just fine. spring may be getting weak so have to crack it up. PLEASE HELP!

PS- almost forgot. the sound can be heard by opening cabinet door which has a metal blk lined horn on the inside. Pic. decribes better

Like I mentioned, I have plenty of pictures. Interested in selling as well. Thank you, Paul

A photo really helps.

A picture would definitely help, but it's safe to assume from the description that it's a generic upright phonograph. After Victor's patents expired in the 'teens the door was open for anyone to start producing upright phonographs to compete with the established Victrola. Many hundreds of companies sprung up to market such machines. The majority of these companies were small, locally-based, and short-lived. No one knows all of the brands that were made. This article will give you a lot of general information about such machines, though the Coronet is not listed among the 240+ manufacturers: http://www.gracyk.com/makers.shtml. (You will need to scroll down the page to find the start of the article.)

There is very little collector interest in these off-brand machines, unfortunately. Most were fairly low in quality, using generic parts. Another problem in marketing such machines today is simply that they are big and relatively heavy, usually costing much more to ship than they are worth. This means that the potential market is limited to local buyers who can pick up the machine directly.