1897 Columbia B “Caseless” Graphophone In Rare Hawthorne & Sheble Square Top Cabinet
$1,200.00
Ships Worldwide.
Uncommon “caseless” Columbia Eagle Graphophone sold by the Eastern Talking Machine in Boston MA ca. 1897. The phonograph is housed in a rare square top cabinet signed on the front and on the baseboard with the name and location of the sales agent.
Caseless Eagles are few and far between. They were typically purchased loose by jobbers and packaged as “Exhibitor” sets — in travel trunks that contained storage room for a horn and cylinders — or fitted in inexpensive aftermarket cabinets, such as this one that was manufactured in Philadelphia by Hawthorne & Sheble.
The machine’s serial number is stamped on the pulley cover, and the marvelous metal ID plate on the cabinet base is embossed, “Eastern Talking Machine Co. — 177 Tremont Street — Boston, Mass USA — New England Headquarters For Graphophones, Phonographs, Records, Horns And Everything Belonging To Talking Machines.”
The mechanism is in excellent condition, with clean nickel plating and minimal tarnish. It runs quite well.
The cabinet finish is original, as are the brass latches and eyelets that secure the lid to the base. The original “eagle” reproducer has a good ball stylus.
Original gutta percha and metal listening tube fittings with replacement rubber tubing.
Includes an early Columbia brown wax cylinder in its original canister.
A seldom seen early Graphophone, ready to be displayed or played.
SOLD
