Here is another HMV Model 102 portable from the early 1930s. This version , in a black case, is in excellent original condition. It plays very well using a the No.16 sound-box. The earlier models of the 102 were fitted with the No.16 box and later models had a No. 5A or 5B sound-box. The […]

Edison-Bell was a British Company that operated from the 1890s and acquired the rights to Edison phonographs and Bell-Tainter “Graphophones”. The Company originally sold machines made in the US and elsewhere, but eventually started making their own phonographs that were very similar to Edison machines. They were one of the very few companies that made […]

Here is a small gramophone from the early 1920s. It is about half the size of standard portables from that time and might have been produced as a toy gramophone, but has full sized components and a good motor. The design was probably started in 1914 with the “Compactophone” described by Christopher Proudfoot as having […]

Here is one of the more unusual and experimental gramophones made by the Vickers-Armstrong Company in 1929. The Vickers Company started in Sheffield in 1819 and was involved in the manufacture of armaments ( especially known for the Maxim machine gun) but also cars, ships torpedoes and aircraft. In 1927 Vickers became Vickers- Armstrong and […]

The “Excelda” was a miniature gramophone produced by the Swiss Thorens Company in about 1931. Later versions like this one has a closed in sound-box with aluminium diaphragm, but earlier models had a mica diaphragm with the Excelda name visible behind. The Excelda is one of the class of small gramophones referred to as a […]

Here is another example of the very popular HMV model 102 portable gramophone from the early 1930s. This example has been carefully serviced and is in complete original condition. There is a No.5A sound-box in very good condition with no signs of “pot-metal” damage and the gramophone plays well. This red example of the very […]

In about 1910 the Gramophone Company (HMV) produced a series of “Hornless” gramophones. Gramophone enthusiasts, it was thought, were getting tired of large horned machines and wanted something neater. The first hornless gramophones had internal wooden horns and two doors at the front allowed for some degree of volume control. The design was never very […]

Two of the very best table gramophones that were available in the 1930s were the HMV model 130 and HMV model 104. The 130 had the advantage of having a really good double spring No.32 motor while the 104 has a single spring motor, this made for a lighter gramophone. Both machines were supplied with […]