The Allen Koenigsberg Phonograph Collection
Lot 3039:
Description
The Amet Metaphone is a highly historic wax cylinder phonograph invented by Edward H. Amet an engineer from Waukegan, Illinois in late 1895. The name “Metaphone” was created as an anagram of the inventor’s last name, Amet (“Meta”). Up until its release, phonographs relied on a fixed, heavy reproducer carriage. The Metaphone introduced a pivoted glass rod or tube acting as a primitive tone arm. The first Metaphones did not use a spring to keep tension on the record. Instead, they utilized an overhanging weight to maintain contact between the glass stylus and the wax cylinder. The machine featured a built-in bubble level and a vertical adjustment screw on the wooden base to ensure it sat completely flat to play properly and utilized a basic, string-driven, clock-style spring motor mounted exposed on the top of the wood cabinet. At a time when Edison and Columbia machines retailed for $30 to $75, Amet sold the Metaphone and later Echophone for only $5 to $10. This massive undercutting threatened the dominant players in the industry. As a result, the American Graphophone Company (Columbia) aggressively sued Amet for patent infringement, forcing him to permanently shut down production in 1896 after only a few months of manufacturing. This early Metaphone is in VG original condition and finish. Has the leveling bubble and adjustment screw, and the glass tone arm with the hanging weight. The motor winds but does not run under it’s own power and will need servicing. Comes with 2 sets of glass ear buds for the listening tube but no rubber tubing nor the “Y” device for the rubber tubing. Original wood cover in VG condition. Measures 10.5” wide, 7.125” deep, 6.25” tall with the cover on. From the Allen Koenigsberg collection.
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