Reginaphone Combination Phonograph Music Box - Short Bedplate for sale

Here's something special, in especially good condition.

The Reginaphone was a combination phonograph and music box, capable of playing both metal and 78rpm records. A response to changing fashion, it was introduced at the end of the music box era, as sales shifted away from music boxes toward phonographs. The music box was always considered the equivalent of a fine musical instrument, but the wonder of the phonograph was that it could reproduce the human voice. This machine gives you the best of two antique worlds.

This machine was designated a Style 250. Because it's a late machine, it is short bedplate, the apex of the development of the Regina music box, and the finest sounding music box Regina ever manufactured. Short bedplate machines always command a premium because of their brilliant tonal quality. And because it is short bedplate, it is also double comb. Double combs were tuned slightly off from each other, yielding a rich, deep, brilliant ethereal sound.

This machine was owned at one time by a well known restorer/collector in the midwest, and the condition reflects that.

The mechanism is in very good condition and the combs really sing out. The leads are in very nice condition and the dampers are in regulation. There is no annoying damper buzz, no bent star wheels, no broken teeth, nothing of that kind of stuff. Everything works in harmonious combination.

What's equally amazing is that the machine still has the phonograph parts. The phonograph parts are removable and can be stored separately when the machine is not playing metal records, or when the lid is closed. The original tone arm has its original reproducer, which can be swiveled to play either vertical cut or lateral cut 78rpm shellac records. (Most records you will find will be lateral cut.) We didn't receive a turntable with this machine, but we thought you ought to have one, so we purchased a special reproduction turntable to make this Reginaphone once again complete.

The adjustable speed control is working properly. The motor will play though several discs, and the automatic start/stop for the music box starts and cuts off as it should.

The beautiful mahogany serpentine case is typical of late Reginas.

You can click on the mp3 file above and hear how heavenly this plays. (Disc is the Watch on the Rhine.) The youtube video embedded below shows this Reginaphone playing a different disc, Verdi's Drinking Song, as well as a bit of a 78rpm record to demonstrate everything it's capable of doing.

Don't be fooled by a music box on a venue such as ebay. Condition means everything. A restoration could cost you far more than the price of this great short bedplate Reginaphone.

As an unexpected tiny delight, this machine comes with a certificate of origin that had been issued by the Musical Box Society International, showing the date it left the Regina factory in 1916.

Fifteen and a half inch Regina discs are the easiest, most plentiful kind of metal record to find. Both old and modern titles have been reproduced. We'll include a dozen nice original discs for your musical enjoyment to get you going.

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Lynn Bilton
Box 435
Randolph,OH 44265
330 325-7866

We buy, sell, and repair antique phonographs and music boxes.

Pick-up and delivery possible in many parts of the midwest,south, and northeast.