Here is a really good looking portable Apollo gramophone . Apollo was the name used by Craies & Stavridi of London who had links with the Swiss Paillard Company who probably made this model. Apollo gramophones together with Decca are distinctive in their use of the “Reflex” sounds system in which the sound from the […]

Here is a really interesting gramophone developed by William Clifton in about 1928. William Clifton, who had several of his inventions patented, founded the “Cliftophone and Records Limited” in London that year. HIs aim was to revolutionize the reproduction of sound and music. Several models were produced but the company ceased trading in 1929. The […]

Phonographs were the first musical machines that could play recorded words and music, introduced just before 1900 and used wax ( and later celluloid) cylinders for the recordings. The recording was in the form of ridges on the bottom of the cylinder grooves that were decoded by a stylus, usually a sapphire or glass ball. […]

The HMV Model 102 is the most sought after portable at the moment and good examples are getting hard to find. The 102 appeared in different forms from its introduction in 1931, until as late as the 1950s when it was made mainly for export, This example is type one with the over-complicated auto-brake. These […]

Here is a really nice and very well made portable gramophone. The logo is worn and difficult to read, but the motor is stamped “Polydor”. It plays really well and is in excellent condition. The design of the case is very similar to the popular HMV model 102 made in the UK and would have […]

Here is a very nice example of a Decca gramophone with the design very like the early “Trench ” Gramophones” made popular during the 1st WW. This model 1A is from about 1918-20. The gramophone uses the principle of the “reflex” horn where the sound from the sound-box is carried through the tone-arm to a […]

Here is something a bit different in portable gramophones, an “Apollo” from the early 1920s. Apollo gramophones were sold in the UK by the Crais and Stavridi Company but they were probably made by the Swiss Company Paillard and versions were available from 1916 to about 1930. Some Apollo gramophones had features in common with […]

This is a nice example of the Edison “Standard” phonograph model A from about 1905. It is fitted with a model “C” reproducer designed to play the two minute wax cylinders then available. There were also some experimental two minute cylinders made from different materials produced at the same time and collectors are keen to […]

This is a very nice and very well-made gramophone from about 1911. The Victor Model IV. The “Victor Talking Machine Company” in the US was the dominant producer of gramophones and was the first organisation to adopt the “Nipper” logo, later made even more famous with HMV. The logo can be seen on this gramophone. […]

Here is an unusual early portable gramophone advertised and marketed in about 1920 by The Murdoch Trading Company, Clerkenwell Road, London. The gramophone was probably made in Switzerland. Several models of “Beltona” were available in the early 1920s and they were well made and of interesting design as in this model where the tone arm […]