In this article I wrote about my favorite phonographs. Every collector has their favorite pieces in their collection, this maybe the first piece they bought, a piece they just had to have or the one they cant seem to get their hands on. We all have our favorites, here are mine.
Victrola XVIII (18)
The Victrola XVIII was the most elegant non-custom phonograph made by the Victor Phonograph company. It was introduced in 1915. The Victrola XVII cabinet was fancy hand carved with finely detailed veneer. It had

Use the following chart of Mason & Hamlin serial numbers to help determine the age of your piano. The serial number of your Mason & Hamlin piano can be found in several locations, depending on what model of Mason & Hamlin you are trying to date.
Mason & Hamlin Serial Number Locations
1. Model B, A, AA and BB grand pianos

First, sit at your piano like you are playing it.
Then look into the piano plate and to the left of the centre of the piano. There should be a serial number stamped …

In 1887 Justus Seeburg started his career in the piano industry. He spent these years in the Chicago-land area. The first company Seeburg worked for was C.A. Smith this later became Smith, Barnes, and Strohber.  Seeburg then went and worked for Bush and Gertz. After Bush and Gertz he became the manager of the Conover Piano manufacturing facility of the Chicago Cottage Organ Company.

Have you ever wondered how old your Steinway piano is? An antique is classified as something over 100 years old. You can read more about the differences between antique and collectibles in the article differences between antiques, collectibles, and vintage item. Steinway has been in business for around 150 years making only 50 years worth of pianos antiques. To find the age of your Steinway piano please see the Steinway chart below.

Thomas Edison’s work on two other inventions, the telegraph and the telephone as a result of this the phonograph was invented. In 1877, Edison was working on a machine that would transcribe telegraphic messages through indentations on paper tape, which could later be sent over the telegraph repeatedly. This development led Edison to wonder if a telephone message could also be recorded in a similar fashion. He experimented with a diaphragm which had an embossing point and was held against quickly-moving paraffin (wax) paper.

The Edison opera was introduced in November 1911. This superior Edison phonograph was said to have given the best sound of any cylinder or disc machine. This phonograph had a horn-reproducer assembly which made it immobile. The cylinder would move under the stylus. This would produce very little mechanical noise. The reproducer was suspended over the cylinder record by its own output tube. This tube was held in the neck of the horn support by a knurled screw. To play a cylinder record you would just press one lever that …

The Victor Talking Machine Company was founded by Eldridge Johnson in 1901, and quickly became a main player in the quickly growing phonograph market. Johnson had been active in the phonograph business as a motor supplier for several years earlier, and had learned an immense deal about the emerging home entertainment market. At the turn of the century, all phonographs used a large external horn to “amplify” the playback sound. Although this system worked quite well, the stark horn tended to dominate the average parlor, and many people felt that …

Hupfeld’s ‘violin player’ was one of the marvels at the World’s Exhibition of 1910 in Brussels.
The Hupfeld Phonoliszt Violina was made in Germany by Ludwig Hupfeld.
Hupfeld was the world’s leading manufacturer of automatic pianos and orchestrions, 1892-1930. They also made rolls circa 1934. Founded in 1892 when Ludwig Hupfeld took over J.M Grob & CO. ultimately employed over 2500 people in several factories, the largest including about 1 million square feet of floor space.

To people around the world “Regina” is synonymous with the term “music box”. With 80% to 90% of the American market for disc-type music boxes. Regina enjoyed the golden age of the disc instruments-an era which for Regina lasted from about 1894 to World War I although instruments were shipped as late as 1921.
There are various Regina automatic musical instruments. I will cover just a few types of Regina music boxes in this article.

The Yale Wonder Clock is rare. Talk about gimmicks and options.
This unusual oak clock is about 7 feet tall. It’s a marriage of clock, music box, coin collecting, and arcade machine.
When you insert a nickel-size, stamped aluminum coin lights flash, music plays, and a token drops into a reward cup potentially worth 5¢, 10¢, 15¢, or 25¢.
While all this is happening within the case, three numbered tiny reels spin, generating a random number between 000 and 999.