SPECIAL 1897 Edison Suitcase Home Cylinder Phonograph, Emerson Clip, Tab Crank

Description

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For your consideration is a Superb example of a very early production 1897 Edison "Suitcase" Home 2-minute cylinder phonograph record player, complete with early tagged crank, brass Class M mandrel, and an esoteric "Emerson" reproducer clip, all together with it's original 15" all brass horn. As an added bonus, this Home has a few clues about an exciting past, you can read more on that below.
If you have been looking for an outstanding early Edison Home, this one with a 4-digit serial number, consider this museum-quality example.
This 124 year old phonograph has one of the cleanest and most lustrous original suitcase lids around, showing little wear to the fragile shellac finish and original Banner decal. Early Homes, such as this example, can be found with decals that are closer to the top of the lid, along with "whiskers" in the shading on the banner. Most later examples have decals placed lower and crosshatched shading. These are two key visual indicators of whether or not a Home is early production.
The black japanned bedplate and cast top works is in fine condition as is the fragile original gilt detailing. The earliest of Homes utilized brass machined mandrels taken from Class M production. These mandrels have no nickel plating and a projecting "lip" on the right side.
This Home's fully serviced motor is strong and easily plays through a couple cylinders with a full winding. The motor utilizes a new top-of-the-line Wyatt Markus leather belt, the best belting on the market today. The motor is wound by a
scarce
original "tagged" Home crank, typically seen on the first few thousand Homes.
Before we cover the reproducer, a special mention needs to be made about the reproducer carriage. Often seen on Class M's, the one-piece "Emerson" clip later became an obscure accessory seen only on the earliest Homes and Spring Motors. This clip made removal of the reproducer from the carriage fairly simple by means of a single movable reproducer guard.
This phonograph comes with it’s original
early
Automatic 2-minute reproducer. It has an excellent sapphire stylus and original Edison glass diaphragm. New gaskets have been installed and the reproducer tuned for optimal performance.
The Edison includes its wonderful original 15" all brass horn, a fragile accessory that is often either missing or damaged. This horn was professionally and carefully serviced by master horn
technician
John Duffy.
Remember when I said this Home had a few clues about an exciting past? Well, a keen observer might have noticed very shallow notches in the top of the cabinet, right below the bedplate, on both the front and rear panels. We can infer from these notches that at one point this Home was outfitted with a wrap-around listening rail, commonly used for exhibition purposes. One can envision this early Home being purchased in 1897 by an enterprising individual wishing to take the latest cylinder recordings on the road for demonstration in towns that had potentially never seen a talking machine. We may never know, but there is a magic in finding these clues as to previous ownership from long ago and dreaming about the Wild West of the early days of phonograph technology.
Included with this special Home is a period late 1890's Edison brown wax 2-minute cylinder, "Medley of War Songs." An exciting well-recorded cylinder like this may have very well been exhibited by this machine in the late 1890's. With this cylinder you can enjoy this phonograph right out of the box. This phonograph will safely play all standard-sized 2-minute, Brown Wax, Black Wax and celluloid cylinders.
There are also countless hundreds of thousands, if not millions, of black wax and celluloid cylinders available on Ebay and probably in local antique shops. If you are seeking any particular titles or artists, let me know and I will check to see if I might have what you are looking for in stock. Set up and operating instructions available upon request.
Please view all photos for more details and confirmation of the above description.
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If you are from an international location please contact me prior to purchase
so that I may provide you with a shipping option and price quote.
After payment is received this lot will be carefully packaged and promptly shipped. I have shipped countless fragile antique phonographs, records, and accessories so you can rest easy knowing this will arrive just as shown.
Please let me know if you have any questions.