Salonola Gramophones
1914: The Salonola Gramophone first appears in The Sun newspaper on August 14, 1914, “made exclusively for Alex Pogonowski of 23 Pitt St, Circular Quay, Sydney. £14- £25” – suggesting a few models were available. (No pictures of any models.)
1916: The Salonola was being sold by Heiron and Smith Ltd (purveyors of recreations for the home) at their showrooms at 397 George Street, Sydney.
1917: Heiron and Smith Ltd become part of ‘Home Recreations Ltd’. They had taken over the sole manufacturing and selling rights of the Salonola. The advertisements got interesting too. A cartoon script titled ‘Mr & Mrs Brown discuss the question’ was a regular feature used throughout the 1920s.
1919: The Salonola advertisements for the next few years are full of a testimonial by Henri Verbrugghen, the Director of the Sydney Conservatorium of Music, praising the qualities of the Salonola. It is believed the Director then commissioned a special Salonola model, which we are privileged to have included in our collection.
1920: Agents are sent out across Australia and fairly soon, Salonolas are being sold in all major cities in Australia.
1920-1925: Salonola concentrated on producing only a few models, they were kept afloat by the quality of their construction and the power of print advertising.
1925: Eric Waterworth of Hobart, Tasmania, patents the very first automatic record-changer. He took it to ‘Home Recreations Ltd’ in Sydney, who agreed to showcase it in their latest Salonola catalogue. Unfortunately, Home Recreations went into liquidation and that Salonola was never built – although an advertisement for it exists.
SALONOLA c.1919
| Model | Tonearm | Motor | Soundbox | Horn | Cabinet | Price | Date |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Salonola | 13" long mounted upside down | Paillard LR 3 spring motor | Salonola branded + Unbranded UNIVERSAL - Generic Swiss aluminium body with mica diaphragm | 32" Overhead sheet metal horn | Oak.H-74” x W-30¼“x D-23” | ? | c.1919 |
Literally collected from a barn in Victoria, Australia.
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Made in two pieces. The record cabinet below
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Solid timber construction except for the backboards and horn fascia board which are laminated.
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Tonearm 13” long: Unusual inverted tonearm mounted in the centre of the cabinet delivers very poor tracking and would cause record wear. As the tonearm is mounted upside down, there is a spring fitted between the tonearm pivot and the mounting plate. Designed to reduce the weight of the soundbox.
- It came with two soundboxes. Exactly the same generic swiss soundbox. One is branded Salonola and the other is un-branded.
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There are three sets of doors. Oddly, each set of wooden handles are different in size and design. Two handles are missing.
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Both cabinets are marked with the same number stamped into the wood and also marked with white chalk: 14818. The top cabinet has the number 4 stamped near the 14818.
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It has been suggested that “this Salonola was commissioned by the director of the Sydney Conservatorium of Music and made to his specification.” What is known is that in 1919, Henri Verbrugghen, the Director of the Sydney Conservatorium of Music, did indeed write a testimonial in Salonola advertisements praising the qualities of the Salonola.
Restoration:
The only new part is the backboard on the lower cabinet. The original finish has been cleaned and oiled. A few cosmetic fills to the timbers, which have also been treated against pests. The motor, tonearm and soundbox have been serviced.
As with most Australian made gramophones, the hardware is imported and the cabinets and design are locally constructed.
The model is as yet unknown. It has appeared under the following two names:
Salonola Console Gramophone (doubtful as the Sheraton Console Salonola and Console Grand from 1928 appear in advertisements and look nothing like this model).
Salonola Model #9, Concert Grand Model De Luxe (No concrete evidence yet)
There seem to have been two models made: a fancy laminated one and a cubic solid wood version.
Two each of these have surfaced so far.
Laminated: One at the National Film and Sound Archive in Canberra and another with images from an auction in South Africa (it would be interesting to know how it arrived there!). This one has no hardware, just an empty cabinet.
Solid wood: This one and another somewhere in Australia. These look identical but in different woods. Note the later additional light lamp. Here is a Facebook page on it.