Item: Columbia Graphophone Type AW – Fancy AO Case Phonograph
Sold For: $3,201.00
Bids: 26
Date: Mar 10, 2012
Auction: Ebay
Seller: hamiltonelectric
Feedback: 100% (707)
Description and Image By: hamiltonelectric
This very unusual Graphophone has a uniquely designed reproducer. It is unlike anything seen on any other cylinder phonographs, however it does bear a strong resemblance to the design of some disc reproducers. Columbia introduced this novel concept in 1904 and dubbed it the Type AW. The earliest examples were sold in the same highly decorative case as the conventional Type AO, but very soon thereafter the cabinet was redesigned to a much plainer serpentine style. Owners of Type AO Graphophones could purchase a kit to upgrade their machines to the AW reproducer. Since these were after-market conversions they still carried the AO designation on the nameplate, and collectors refer to them as Type AO/AW. Only those Graphophones which were set up at the factory with the special reproducer were marked as AW on the plate — as found on this machine — and only a few very early examples survive in this ornate cabinet design.