The Allen Koenigsberg Phonograph Collection
Lot 3000:
Description
French typographer Édouard-Léon Scott de Martinville (1817-79) invented the Phonautograph, a machine to make a visual record of sound waves traveling through the air. First patented in 1857 and revised repeatedly, his design would influence the direction of sound studies. The Phonautograph was the first device to imitate the structure and function of the human ear. Scott intended the phonautograph to transform sound into a kind of writing, as a means to preserve and recall it. The recordings were not intended for listening. They showed sound as wavy lines traced through a coating of soot on glass or paper. The machine created the lines with a vibrating stylus, set in motion by a flexible membrane that responded to sound waves—similar to how an eardrum works. The Phonautograph was not mass-produced for consumers. Instead, it was built as a scientific laboratory instrument. The original experimental machine built by Scott de Martinville himself during the 1850s did not survive. In 1865, French instrument maker Rudolf Koenig standardized the machine and began manufacturing them for universities and laboratories worldwide. Several dozen of these specific Koenig-model phonautographs have survived and are preserved in institutions like the Smithsonian Institution in Washington D.C., the Science Museum in London, and various European university physics collections. We believe this to be the only Koenig model in private hands. It is in VG condition and was the centerpiece of Allen Koenigsberg’s collection for many years. It is pictured on page 8 of the Fabrizio / Paul book Discovering Antique Phonographs. Don’t miss this once in a lifetime opportunity to own the earliest recording device on record. Pictured on page 8 of the Fabrizio / Paul Discovering Antique Phonographs. It measures 38”long, 30”wide, 27” tall not including the 20” wide, 33” deep, 2.5” tall wood display platform. From the Allen Koenigsberg collection.
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