1878 Hardy Tinfoil Phonograph

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The Tinfoil Phonograph was invented by Thomas Edison in late 1877. Six months later, at the 1878 Exposition Universelle in Paris, it was introduced to the public by machinist E. Hardy. Hardy’s apparatus was called, fittingly enough and probably under a legal directive from Mr. Edison, the Edison Phonograph.

Hardy’s Tinfoil Phonograph was a ruggedly built, beautifully designed and relatively compact apparatus that could record speech and brief passages of music onto a sheet of tinfoil and play it back moments later.

This example of Hardy’s Phonograph is one of fewer than two dozen that are known to have survived. It was passed down through the family of a well known Dutch electronics manufacturer until earlier in this century, when it was sold to a collector in the United States. It is now being offered again for the first time in almost 20 years.

The enamel finish is obviously worn and the wood mouthpiece is a replica made by the late Ray Phillips, but the machine is otherwise in fine condition and is guaranteed to be an authentic Edison Phonograph manufactured in Paris in 1878 by E. Hardy. It is also in working order.

Please review the photographs and consider them an integral part of the description.

Measures approximately 10″ x 8″ x 9″. Weight is 21 lb.

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