Antique Phonograph Society
The seal of the Antique Phonograph Society

Preserving the Sound of an Age

The Antique Phonograph Society

A worldwide fellowship devoted to the phonograph, the gramophone, cylinder and shellac records — the machines that first gave voice to recorded music, restored and remembered as they deserve.

Explore the Collection

Established 1976

A Victor III talking machine with a hand-painted blue morning-glory horn

Victor III Talking Machine

circa 1906, with after-market flower horn

Our Purpose

Why the Machines Still Matter

Before the radio, before the record shop, a spring-wound motor and a horn of brass turned a groove of shellac into song. We keep that first miracle turning.

Preserve

We rescue and restore antique phonographs, gramophones and cylinder players, keeping original mechanisms sounding as their makers intended.

Research

Members identify makers and models, date rare machines, and document the history of recorded sound through our library and price guide.

Celebrate

From the quarterly journal to the annual banquets, we gather collectors the world over to share the machines, the music, and the mania.

The Gallery

A Cabinet of Curiosities

Each machine a portrait — framed, catalogued and adored. A selection from members' collections across five continents.

  • December of 1900 the Toy Gramophone entered the market manufactured by Eldridge R. Johnson. The ad stated: “Toy Gram-O-Phone. A perfect talking machine for $3.00, the most wonderful Christmas Gift ever offered for children. It has a ten-inch japanned horn toy sound box, perfect governor, with speed regulator, nicely polished case board, record with six children’s selection, and 100 needles.” The seven- inch record included with the Toy Gramophone was the first double-sided record to be sold to the public.
    Victor Toy (Late)
    The $3.00 Toy was Eldridge Johnson’s first attempt to enter the talking machine market in December 1900 and the first machines to use the “His Master’s Voice” trademark on the horn. Included with the Gramophone was the first double-sided record that played nursery rhymes.
  • Introduced in 1901 was a major improvement over earlier models. The quarter-sawn oak case has striped pillars and base molding. It has a side crank that allows larger records to play. This Victor “C” phonograph has the Lyon and Heally Chicago decal. The phonograph has a 7-inch turntable and single spring motor. The horn is a 14-inch black steel horn with brass bell. It has the “Standard” Victor soundbox. It was originally sold for $25.00.
    VICTOR Model “C”
    This side crank 1901 Victor phonograph was a major improvement over earlier models. Selling for $25.00, it features an oak cabinet with corner pillars and base molding.
  • This Gramophone by Emile Berliner circa 1889-1893 was manufactured by Kammer & Reinhardt, a German doll and toy maker. It is the world’s first commercial flat-disc record player. The Gramophone features a hand-cranked mechanism with a 5-inch turntable, a brass travelling arm with a sound box that plays a 5-inch Berliner record. It has an 8-inch-long cast-iron base, black enameled with gold striping and features a paper mache horn with detailed gold trim.
    KAMMER REINHARDT GRAMOPHONE
    The world’s first commercial disc record Gramophone by Emile Berliner in 1889 was manufactured by Kammer & Reinhardt, a German doll and toy maker.
  • Victor MS (Monarch Special) was introduced in 1901. It has a 3-spring motor with brass gears for extended play time. It features a 10-inch cast-iron turntable. The cabinet is ornate, quarter-sawn oak decorated with heavy carvings, gingerbread trim and rope- twist moldings. Victor’s “Rigid Arm” was an invention which supplanted the earlier front- mounted horn phonographs. A straight metal tube connected the reproducer to a pivot joint near the rear. The reproducer on the Rigid Arm lifted up in scissor style.
    Victor MS “Rigid Arm” Phonograph
    This ornate Victor MS (Monarch Special) is decorated with heavy carving, gingerbread trim and rope-twist molding. It features a rare Rigid Arm (introduced in Oct.1902), with a concert reproducer.
  • The Columbia Bijou was Thomas Macdonald invention. It was Columbia’s second model design for home entertainment and the first Columbia machine to have a fixed mandrel. It has a cast aluminum chassis, a front mounted feed-screw and carriage assembly, enclosed upper drive gears and hinged flip-down end gate to support the mandrel. The bedplate is nickel plated steel. A #1 black gutta percha reproducer is mounted to the carriage assembly. It has a 4-ball governor and brass barreled single spring motor. This Gramophone has a listening rail attached. It was sold for $40.
    Columbia Bijou Type N
    A Columbia Bijou with the gold banner “The Graphophone” decal with a Washington D.C. address. The bedplate is nickel-plated. This phonograph has a listening rail attached so that several people could listen to the cylinder record at the same time.
  • The Amet Echophone cylinder phonograph was invented and made by Edward H. Amet. It was the lowest-priced talking machine available at the time. The Echophone utilizes a single one-piece glass tube with a glass stylus formed directly on its tip. The glass arm rests loosely on a sound-transmitting clamp. The Echophone’s does not have a feed-screw, the lightweight glass arm is pulled laterally across the wax cylinder by the record groove itself. The free end of the rubber tubing connected directly to listening tubes or a small black cone horn.
    Amet Echophone
    The “Echophone” (1896) is an unusual phonograph from the earliest years of home entertainment. It was low priced at just $5.00.

Interactive Guide

PhonoWizard

Not sure what kind of phonograph you have? Let our interactive wizard help.

For Members

The Library & the Journal

01

The Library

Thousands of catalogues, manuals and maker records — the reference archive of early recorded sound, open to every member.

02

The Price Guide

Realized auction values and rarity notes across makes and models, so you buy, sell and insure with a collector's confidence.

03

The Quarterly Journal

Four times a year: restoration features, discoveries, member collections and the finest scholarship on the talking machine.

Members of the Antique Phonograph Society gathered at the annual banquets

Gather With Us

Annual Expos & Banquets

A society is its people. Through the year we meet to trade machines, compare crank and horn, and end each season in black tie.

  • The Annual Expos & BanquetsEvenings of dinner, awards and rare-machine display — the highlights of the collecting calendar.
  • Regional Meets & Swap TablesLocal gatherings where members buy, sell and demonstrate their finest finds.
  • The Worldwide ForumAn always-open room for questions, identifications and the friendships that outlast any auction.
See the Calendar

You Are Cordially Invited To Join Us

Join the Society

Take your place among collectors, restorers and historians the world over — and receive the journal, the library, the price guide and a standing invitation to every gathering.

4Journals a Year∞Library Access2Grand Expos & Banquets
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