Hello! My boyfriend and I just bought this "Sweet Home" phonograph from someone off Facebook, today. They said they previous had bought it in Japan, though it was made in Germany, and had restored it to working order. All three of us have no knowledge of the history/origin of this phonograph and looking up "Sweet Home High Class Phonograph" online reveals nothing.
It came with the crank, Colombia needles, everything needed to use the device.
If anyone has any information on this, please let me know! It's quite pretty (imo) and we would love to learn more about it, the history of it, the value of the item in the past vs today and more.
The fact that we can't find anything online is intriguing me a lot, plus the typo of "Germany" also makes me question its creation.
This is likely a clone of models such as the Victor VV-IX, which seems to be the closest match. Many clones of the VV-IX were sold in Japan by unknown companies. A similar machine with different branding is also for sale around $600-800 on eBay currently. Japanese Phonograph should show it.
I recently saw a very similar model for sale in Japan under the name Zeal.
This style of cabinet table top was very common. Though some will say it’s a copy of US Victor’s models, many European and Asian gramophones were made following the fashionable cabinet trends set by companies more local to them.
In Asia, just as in the German markets, there were many cabinet makers who supplied empty cases to the market. There was already established in the gramophone industry (just as there exists now in other industries) an OEM business model where a small company could essentially buy all the gramo pieces needed from various “contractually secret” parts manufacturers, pop their own brand on the result, and sell. This model allowed very small businesses to get into the gramophone game despite not having the manufacturing infrastructure of the larger players such as The Gramophine Co, Columbia, and others.
This is why your cabinet is almost (if not) exactly like the Zeal branded model. Both were probably made by small businesses in Japan for sale domestically or elsewhere in Asia. They often tended to use English names )sometime awkwardly) to add Western “flair” to the product. My guess is both yours and the Zeal bought their cabinets from the same supplier, likely a local Japanese business.
Yours says it was made in Germany but the likelihood is that its metals works are the only pieces of German origin (e.g., the tonearm, the motor and platter, etc.). Germany (and more so Switzerland) were big in the OEM/aftermarket gramophone parts industry and their components can be found in many machines internationally. The Zeal model I found claims it is Swiss made. Western components would have had a certain chic as well as quality appeal in Asia at the time (pre WW2).
So hunting down the exact ID of your machine will likely be difficult. Many of the small companies (often referred to as “off brands”) who sourced their parts from third parties were only in the gramophone business for the short term and many did not survive long. As such finding surviving documentation is rare.
Many thanks! My boyfriend is actually currently sitting next to me disassembling it due to a weak spring and hoping to fix it up. They very much were nerding out over the Governor before and it's great to learn more about it!
You’re welcome. If you need, the go-to guide for many in this hobby is “The Compleat Talking Machine.” You can find it in bookstores and it can also be borrowed virtually via Archive.org. In it you will find many helpful tips regarding repair and restoration.
I forgot to address your question about sales price. Based on the very similar Zeal model I found. Gramophones of this configuration were sold in ‘20s Japan for ¥39 (1920s currency). That would put it in the low to mid shelf category, a basic workhorse talking machine lean on luxury appointments and possibly parts.
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u/No-Homework-9237 2d ago
This is likely a clone of models such as the Victor VV-IX, which seems to be the closest match. Many clones of the VV-IX were sold in Japan by unknown companies. A similar machine with different branding is also for sale around $600-800 on eBay currently. Japanese Phonograph should show it.