Phonoland

Hey Guys! So, I got this a month or two ago.. It was not in working condition then, but now it is. Hooray! I couldn't pass up on this unit, I thought it was too beautiful! (It was a decent price, but I took a day off from work just to schedule a road trip to pick it up!)

So, I bring it here to the forum because I tried to do my own research and found nothing... the few people I've asked have no idea either. It appears to be a European motor? I've included one pic of the motor and that has a mark in French. I've included another picture of the only mark on the unit itself. That mark reads "Zemerphone by J. Pomerantz".

Anybody have any info to share? ...or any ideas on where I could get info? ...if not, how would you value this peice as is, a working upright phonograph with beautiful art designs?

Thanks for your time and help!

The components all look Swiss made, including the goose-neck style tone arm, which would have violated Victor's patents had the machine or its components been produced in the US. I've seen that style tone arm used on a number of European gramophones, BTW, as well as some assembled in the US, using parts supplied by European vendors.

The case looks original and hand painted/stenciled, probably to emulate the more expensive, customized models produced by Victor, Columbia, etc.

The horn reminds me of those installed in some of the off-brand machines that were manufactured during the teens and 1920s in the US, after the key patents had expired. (SEE: http://www.gracyk.com/makers.shtml ) Though different, it reminds me of the style of horn used in the Cheney Talking Machines, (SEE: http://www.gracyk.com/cheney.shtml ) though Cheney's horn was a floating style, designed to function like a resonator; aspiring to the "mellow sound quality" of a violin.

I'm sure the painted cabinet would set this above the run of the mill off-brand victrola-clone, in terms of value.