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Post by loanguy1 on Jun 29, 2011 14:24:19 GMT -5
Hi everyone,
I read many of the posts here and decided that I would join and see if I can get some advice. First off, I have never owned or intended to own a phonograph before last week, so my knowledge base is about 20 hours of web research. I found a mahogany Amberola 50 on craigslist and just decided to check e-bay for a rough value. Needless to say I bought it and I think I got a fairly good deal at $175 with 29 misc. cylinders. I believe everything is original but would like to know if there is a way to determine if the cabinet and playing mechanism are indeed a matched set. Secondly, the exterior although mostly scratch and ding free has the look and feel of leather. I assume this is due to age. Is this going to detract from the value and should I consider refinishing it? I have heard and read so many times that refinishing an antique would be worse than just leaving it alone.
I would like to post a few pics., but I have no idea how to do so.
Any info. or advice would be greatly appreciated.
Gary
P.S. It was my intention to resell this for a profit, but now I'm not so sure...Kinda fell in love with it.
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Post by gibsonj on Jun 30, 2011 13:59:37 GMT -5
Hi Gary and welcome I would say that you got a good deal. No way that I'm aware of to confirm original cabinet and mechanism match. If you don't find mis-matching holes in either the cabinet or the bedplate mounting, then I'd say its probably original. Take a look at the screw heads and see if there's any indication they have been removed. Folks often fail to use the right size screwdrivers when taking machines apart, and it scars up the screw heads. That would indicate at least that the machine had been apart for some reason, not necessarily that it was a mis-matched situation. Model 50 Amberolas are 4 minute machines designed to play Blue Amberol records only. Be sure that the cylinders you got with the machine are Blue Amberols, and not earlier 4-minute black Amberols. The aligator feel to the finish is common after all these years. A good cleaning might improve it some. I use Kotton Klenser myself (see kottonklenser.com/), but I've heard other folks using GoJo (without pumice added) to also get good cleaning results. If that doesn't prove satisfactory, then Eric Reiss in his book "The Compleat Talking Machine: A Collector's Guide to Antique Phonographs" talks about a process call reamalgamation, that essentially dissolves and re-distributes the original finish, which is much preferable to stripping and re-finishing, in my opinion. Good luck. John
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