Phonoland

I have a Colmbia Grafonola type 440. Does anyone know anything about this phonograph? I've found things on the internet about every other "type", but nothing on the 440.

Thank you,
Robin

Is it an upright, console, table model, or portable? Wind-up or electric? Is it possible to post a photo here, or provide a link to view one? Columbia made "grafonola's" for about 20 years, so a pic might help narrow down the age ect, by it's components or cabinet style. They also made special "Art" models, which might explain the lack of info on the web for this model. I don't think(?) Columbia did this, but HMV sometimes released the same machine, under different model designations, depending on where in the world it was to be sold.

It's a stand alone model. Wind up also. Here is a link to some pictures.

http://dallas.craigslist.org/for/500145966.html

I looked it up in "The Columbia Phonograph Companion, Vol. II" by Robert Baumbach. The model 440 appears on page 214 of the book, but it's an upright model -- height 44.25 inches; width: 20 inches; Depth 20.5 inches. It is nothing like the one on Craigslist.

However, on page 219, the model 530 is illustrated and described, and it looks like an exact match:

Height: 34 inches
Width: 36 inches
Depth: 20.5 inches

Introduced -- 1924, original price -- $150.00

"This Queen Ann style cabinet was offered in brown mahogany or walnut with nickel plated trim. Features included a three spring motor, non-set automatic stop, shelves for records and tone control leaves behind the sliding panel."

The one for sale on craigslist seems to have the mahogany finish. The paint should be removable, without damaging the original finish further. There should be a door on the left side of the cabinet, which matches the door covering the horn on the right. If missing, this will probably be a challenge to replace, but for $75, I think the price is fine. (Parts, alone, would be worth that.)

My wife's grandmother just gave us one of these. Ours needs no work - how would we go about getting such a thing appraised.

Anyone??? Would really appreciate some help with this.

Newbie wrote:Anyone??? Would really appreciate some help with this.

It's hard to even guess at a price without knowing what the exact model is, or overall condition, including the cabinet, motor, sound box, plating, etc. The price "range" for most pre-1925 Columbia Grafonolas I've seen seems to be about $200-450+ depending on condition, model, etc.--if eBay is any indication.

I have noticed that there seems to be less interest in the Columbia (internal horn) cabinet models than comparable Victor Victrolas. A lot of this has to do with the fact that Columbia tone arms and other components are more prone to breakage, and are sometimes hard to replace. Also, the (pre-1925) Victor Victrolas generally have a brighter, louder tone than similar size Columbia models, and more information is available about the Victor models thanks to websites such as victor-victrola.com; as well as books, etc.

If possible, have a few clear digital photos taken, host them on one of the free image hosting sites, such as Image Shack, and post the URLs to the images, perhaps in a new post thread.

In the meantime, do a search on eBay for Columbia Grafonola, or Columbia Phonograph or even Columbia Victrola. (Make sure you put a check in the box to search both the title and description.) If you see anything that comes close to what you have, bookmark it and track the auction to completion.

Another source is Craigslist. I've seen dozens of Columbia models for sale over the past year on the various boards. You can do an overall search of all of the different craigslist boards by going to http://www.google.com and typing in one of the following exactly as it appears:

site:craigslist.org Columbia Grafonola

or

site:craigslist.org Columbia Phonograph

This will give you Google's cache of the various ads, etc.. that have appeared on Craigslist over the past two weeks or so, and you'll at least get some idea of current asking prices.

Thank you very much.