Bell


The full story of The Bell Piano & Organ Company Limited, Guelph, Ontario, and its involvement in the piano and phonograph trade from its warerooms at 146 Yonge Street, Toronto, is told in an article published in Antique Phonograph News, available on line at https://capsnews.org/apn2018-3.htm.

Bell manufactured several models of upright and console phonographs beginning in the early 1920s which they labelled "Bellolian". About 1925 they made a "new style" phonograph labelled either "Bell Euphonic" or "Bellphonic".



An upright Bellolian for sale on Marketplace in 2023.




A console model Bellolian cabinet missing its phonograph mechanism but with a good label for sale on Kijiji in 2018.




The Province (Vancouver), May 1, 1924, p. 22.



Montreal Star, December 4, 1924, p. 22.



Montreal Star, September 30, 1925, p. 16. Sale of used and new phonographs including two Bellolians.




This Bell Euphonic is in the collection of the Guelph Civic Museum, accession number 1985.49.1. Photographs are courtesy of Guelph Museums. The photograph of the label showing the serial number, 1966, is courtesy of Bill Pratt.




Bell must have been struggling with an identity for their new style phonograph because they also produced an identical model which they named a Bellphonic. The only difference seems to be the logo and the gold-plated, or -painted, hardware on the two front cabinet doors. Photographs supplied by Norman Brooks.




Edmonton Journal, April 17, 1929, p. 2. There was even a Bellphonic portable.



Toronto Daily Star, June 13, 1929, p. 5. The Bellphonic portable was available at Eaton's in Toronto.



Toronto Daily Star, June 13, 1929, p. 5.



Toronto Daily Star, June 27, 1929, p. 5.



Edmonton Journal, June 24, 1931, p. 3. As late as 1931 the Bellphonic portable was available at the Hudson's Bay Company in Edmonton.

Canadian Antique Phonograph Project