1911 HMV Monarch Gramophone — Handmade Display Model
1911 HMV Monarch Gramophone — Handmade Display Model
Model details
- Materials
- Brass
- Construction
- Handcrafted
- Collection
- Nautical Decor
- Item no.
- AJ013
A replica of the His Master's Voice Monarch Model V — brass horn, wooden case and winding crank.
Handcrafted as a display piece. Decorative rather than functional.
Details
- Handcrafted display model — non-functional
- Flared horn, tonearm, turntable and crank detail
- Hand-applied finish
- Suits a study, library, music room, shop or bar
The machine — and the dog
The gramophone had no electricity and no amplifier. The needle's vibration passed directly into a diaphragm and out through the horn, which did all the amplification acoustically by matching the diaphragm's small movements to a large volume of air. The whole system was mechanical, from the wound spring driving the turntable to the sound leaving the horn.
The His Master's Voice painting came from Francis Barraud, who painted his brother's dog Nipper listening to a phonograph. He tried to sell it to Edison, who said dogs do not listen to phonographs. The Gramophone Company bought it on condition he repaint the machine as one of theirs.