Here is a really early gramophone from the very beginning of recorded sound, possibly the very first commercially available music machine from “The Gramophone Company”. In the book “His Master’s Gramophone” by Proudfoot and Oakley it is referred to as the “Style No.2” from 1900, however, an accompaning photograph from the original owner dates it as from 1897. The gramophone is hand-wound, so might have been interesting as a novelty, playing small recordings of speech, but would be difficult to cope with any form of music.

The gramophone is open work on an oak base, has an 8″ turntable and original Clark-Johnson sound-box. The horn is a replacement, and would have been a simple black cone like this, without a flare and about 14″ long.

The logo states “The Gramophone Company Limited” 31 Maiden Lane London and has the “Recording Angel” on the left.

This is an article from the Leamington Spa Courier from 1957 in which Mr Renton, dealer in rare early records, is demonstrating this hand-wind gramophone.