Paris, Ontario has a long association with phonographs. Remember the photo-postcard from about 1905 of the wonderfully-wacky R. West, Entertainer, which was used on the cover of a previous CAPS Membership Directory. (Collection of Bill & Betty Pratt)

The small town of Paris, Ontario (north and west of Hamilton), often plays host to a most interesting auction, which takes place about every 6 to 8 weeks. Inside an old converted church are often 700-plus items, most of which are from estate clear-outs, and usually consist of art, lamps, jewellery, furniture, rugs, china, etc.

I hadn’t been to one of these auctions in about 5 or 6 years. I felt, however, that I could not ignore the auction of February 17th 2007, due to the description that was given in their pamphlet: "Super collection of antique gramophones & gramophone parts, --cylinders—1000’s of records, -- antique and retro radios…" I’m sure that anyone reading this newsletter would understand my excitement! My cousin Rob and his wife, Pina, were kind enough to do the hour plus driving from Toronto on this cold winter day.

The auction seemed to attract much larger crowds than in the past. Part of the reason, I’m told, was due to advertising on the internet. It was standing room only for us and it seemed like a long day, as approximately 100 items per hour were sold under the hammer. If you’ve been only to a CAPS meeting auction, you’ll find the pace at this event is extremely quick. Do not pay attention and you’ll miss the item being sold (and I’m speaking from experience!)

Listed below is a rough inventory of most of the phonograph-related pieces. In addition to the selling price, the lucky buyer can expect to pay a10% buyer’s premium, 7% Provincial Tax, and 6% Goods and Services Tax (so a 24% mark up can add considerably to the final invoice).

• Edison Fireside Model B. Good condition, with original paint cygnet horn, crane and lid. Diamond B reproducer: $1200
• 30 or so unusual records, Pathé , Hit of the Week, Berliner, etc: $260
• Pathé outside-horn disc machine (#4?), with re-painted horn: $1600
• Victrola VI, good original shape: $170
• Box of 62 two- and four-minute cylinders: $160
• Edison Gem, Model B, 2-minute with extra horn. Fair shape, repainted horn: $450
• Outside-horn "Clement Saturn" disc phonograph, repainted horn: $580
• Columbia BK, 2-min with Lyric reproducer: $400
• Box of 50 cylinders: $170
• Four odd horns (makes unknown): $170
• Large assortment of unusual needle tins: $300
• Approx 300 Diamond Disc Records (sale price U/K)

In addition, there were a couple of other Edison Diamond Disc upright console machines (sorry, but I didn’t get the models) that sold for a very reasonable $150 and $200.

Usually there are very few, if any, phonograph-related items at this auction. However, if you like other antique items, you may want to check it out to see what deals are available.

Ever hear of a "Bettina" phonograph, as in this June 1899 ad?

"All genuine Micro- Diaphragms have the name ‘BETTINI’ stamped on them." Such was the last sentence of Lieutenant Gianni Bettini’s April, 1900 cylinder catalogue, the front cover of which bore his surname no less than four times. Indeed, by the turn-of-the- century, it was engraved or emblazoned on all of his growing line of phonographic devices, and became the unofficial trademark of those he produced in the United States.

On June 5, 1900, Lieutenant Bettini actually did register it as a French trademark, even before incorporating his Paris-based firm, the Societe des Micro-phonographes Bettini, the following year. Doing that was in part a business move to discourage firms such as Pathe and Cahit, which began marketing "spider" reproducers that were quite similar in design to his own, but the lieutenant also did so quite simply because of immense pride in his moniker and heritage. It also may have been a reflection of his rivalry with Thomas A. Edison, who trademarked his signature in France on February 23, 1900. Bettini registered a second French trademark, this time for his signature (which had only the "g" of his first name, written in lower case, but include his full surname, with the "B" capitalized), on July 13th of that year.

The inventor’s advertisements also prominently displayed his name, although searching for them in vintage magazines can be a daunting, frustrating task. All too many of the microfilms and archived bound volumes available to modern researchers have omitted advertising sections. The earliest Bettini ad that I have uncovered appeared in The Phonoscope of June, 1897. Other U.S. periodicals that he advertised in during the late 1890’s and the first three years of the twentieth century included: the Playbill of the Metropolitan Opera House, Metropolitan Magazine, Leslie’s, Harper’s, American Housekeeper, Scribner’s, Century, American Monthly Review of Reviews, Edison Phonograph Monthly, The Delineator, Popular Science, and McClure’s. In France, Bettini used La Nature (Paris Edition), Femina, Vie Populaire, Le Figaro (also the Paris Edition) and the rather bawdy Le Rabelais to advertise his wares. Of all these, the only one I found that ever made a serious typographical error in the lieutenant’s advertising copy was the above-mentioned McClure’s, a muckraking journal which earned a considerable admiration for exposing corruption and injustices of the era.

Bettini Ad in Popular Science, 1899

Although, with the passage of time Bettini could muster stoic, goodnatured humor about the unintentional mistakes of others (for example, in a Leslie’s article of May, 19, 1899 he said: "One day, four or five years ago, an assistant let fall a box of cylinders covered with new records and a dozen or more of my finest voices were silenced in an instant. They were all broke up and so was I"), the McClure's' typo must have been especially grief-provoking.

All was well with his McClure's ads for April and May, 1899. Both featured the familiar statuette mounted on a pedestal, supporting a highly stylized Edison Opera Phonograph, with a Bettini reproducer and horn that he repeatedly used in his broadsides, catalogue covers, and even his stationery. That entire ensemble, incidentally, has been rumored to have turned up in New Zealand, a nation where a number of verified Bettini artifacts, including cylinders, have been discovered. But at the top of the June, 1899 advertisement, McClure's misspelled his name as BETTINA.

The error may well have caused the lieutenant to reevaluate the design of his advertisements, for changes ensued. Bettini ads that ran each month from September through December, 1899 in Popular Science, now had a fragmented tribute to the phonograph: "A machine with a soul, able to awake and perpetuate all the pleasantest and strongest emotions of life, will revive the past and bring back the absent. The most truthful teacher and guide for musicians, singers, elocutionists, speakers, preachers, students of dramatic art, etc. Carrying vocal messages to all parts of the world, and preserving the same for posterity. The most agreeable companion in solitude, and a great entertainer for invalids, putting the favorite songs, instruments and the most favorite artists at your instant command." Lieutenant Bettini was so fond of these words that his aforementioned April, 1900 catalogue included a very similar sentiment. And an advertisement he placed in the December, 1899 issue of The Phonoscope, included the statuette motif on the left, but on the right, it added an entirely new feature that he would often employ in the years that followed: portraits of eight opera stars, embedded on the lids of overturned Bettini cylinder boxes.