Listen(mp3)

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Reginaphone with Lion Heads for sale

$8500

The Reginaphone with lion heads was a popular machine when introduced, and remains a favorite today because of its unique appearance and beautiful sound.

These machines are short bedplate, universally deemed by collectors to be the most technologically advanced, best sounding of Regina music boxes, and of all disc music boxes, for that matter.

This example has great original deep mahogany finish.

The combs, leads and dampers are in exquisite condition. Either they had some restoration performed on them at one time, or they are near pristine original.

These machines were combination phonograph-music boxes. Most people today are going to enjoy them as a music box rather than a device to play 78rpm records, but this Reginaphone does have the original phonograph turntable and an original Reginaphone tone arm.

And that leads to a minor mystery. These machines should have been sold as a Style 240. The data plate on this machine starts with a 246, indicating it should have been sold as a Style 246, another style of a late, short bedplate Reginaphone. The combs, bedplate and everything else would have been the same - only the start of the data plate would have been different. The bulbous type tone arm on this machine is not the Columbia type arm seen on many Reginaphones, but is an arm seen on some late Reginaphones such as a Style 246. Was this an example of the factory using up parts as sales slowed, or did someone improve the machine at sometime during its history?

There are some other clues. The Reginaphone decal appears to be a newer decal -- it's old, but not a varnish decal, as would have been applied in 1905. And the shelving at the bottom contains a greater area for 78rpm records rather than metal records. This leads me to believe that the cabinet may have started out in life as a Columbia Grafonola Deluxe. It's the same thing as a Reginaphone, but was tweaked by Regina for sale as a Columbia.

There's also some distress and modifications on the small piece of wood that surrounds the tone arm and speed control, but all the controls and the tone arm are perfectly functional. I guess we'll never know everything that happened to this machine over its 120 year history, but I can tell you that everything works perfectly, and this Regina fills the room with its beautiful, soul-satisfying sound.

You can listen to this play as both a phonograph and music box on the mp3 file, or you can hear it play a metal record on the youtube video below.

Includes ten 15.5 inch discs.

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

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

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