Antique Berliner New Style Phonograph - Gramophone. England, Circa 1905

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Antique Berliner New Style Phonograph - Gramophone. England, Circa 1905

Antique New Style phonograph or gramophone by Berliner made in England circa 1905 for the European market, complete and in fine condition. This is an entirely original article; the only part which has been replaced (due to the logical deterioration of the material) is the leather elbow which connects the reproducer and the horn. The rest of the gramophone has survived as it was for more than a century, making it possible to play today old-time records with the wonderful sound which characterizes them.

Berliner gramophones are the first flat disc gramophones in history. Its image became famous worldwide, since it is the model that appears in the famous logo of His Master's Voice. In the New Style model, the motor is more powerful than that of its predecessors, a fantastic innovation for its time, which allows to reproduce not only the original Berliner records, which sound terrible, but also, as the motor is more powerful, standard 10 inch (25 cms) records.

The box is made of solid oak wood and stands on a plank of the same material. It bears an ancient decal, entirely original and finely preserved, with the logo of The Gramophone & Typewriter Company and information about the brand. We can also see a circular embedded plate with the same logo, a naked angel playing a record with a feather. The amazing brass horn is in great condition, being also a difficult to find piece, as they were normally black lacquered and having them in brass was an extra when buying the gramophone.

Any lover of old time record players will appreciate this antique New Style phonograph or gramophone by Berliner, a really iconic model.

Dimensions: Box: Side: 10.03 in / 25.5 cm. Height: 4.52 in / 11.5 cm. Horn: Length: 14.96 in / 38 cm. Mouth’s Width: 9.29 in / 23.6 cm.

Berliner Gramophones - History

Emil Berliner was born in Germany and moved to the United States in 1870. He became famous for inventing the gramophone, the device which would revolutionize the international music industry and whose technology is still used by record players and vinyl records. In 11881 Berliner became a USA citizen; his interest in sound recording would make him research through Edison’s and Bell’s techniques. In 1887 he patented his firs device, the Gramophone, a machine which did not record sounds on cylinders but flat disks. This system made much easier the task of make multiple copies of each unit. Aiming to found his own business, Berliner contacted engineer Eldridge R. Johnson in order to design an affordable wind-up motor for his Gramophone. The design succeeded and Berliner partnered with Johnson and founded the Victor Talking Machine Company. When Berliner suggested adopting the famous image of the dog and the gramophone as their brand logo, the company would change its name to His Master’s Voice. After some legal disputes for the Gramophone name in the USA (this is the reason which the Victor Talking Machine Co. Could not use it in its commercial name), Berliner would found other companies in different countries: The Berliner Gram-o-phone Company in Canada, the Deutsche Grammophon in Germany and the British Gramophone Co. Ltd.