Here is a portable Decca gramophone from about 1918. It is in the style of the “Trench gramophones ” that gained great popularity in WW1 but is slightly later in date. Decca used the system of “reflex sound” instead of using an amplifying horn and sound from the sound-box and short tone-arm is bounced off […]

Here is another nice example of the HMV Model 102 from about 1935. The gramophone is in a black case in very good condition, it has been fully serviced and plays very well using a No.5B sound-box that has been serviced and a replacement diaphragm fitted. A new carry handle has been fitted , The […]

After WW1 and in the 1920s there was a great demand for gramophones as a source of entertainment and to satisfy the dance craze that was booming. Probably the most popular portable gramophone at that time was the HMV Model 101. This is a very well used and weather-beaten example from about 1926 and in […]

Here is a very nice example of the Gramophone Company’s (HMV) ” Junior Monarch” gramophone from 1911-1913. It has a steel “Morning Glory” horn, 10″ turntable and single spring motor. The sound-box is the “Exhibition” box made in the USA. There is the “Dennison” speed regulator and cannon brake. The raised plates on front and […]

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 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 […]

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 […]