In a Nutshell
Columbia's version of Edison's Concert phonograph, the Grand Graphophone model AG. It plays the 5" diameter Grand and Concert cylinders. A very ornate quarter-sawn oak cabinet, a powerful 2-spring motor, the large 1¾" light-weight Floating reproducer and the rare record format make this graphophone very collectible. It comes with an original 36" all-brass horn and crane, and with two rare original and identified 5" brown wax Grand cylinders with boxes in excellent visual and acoustic condition, all perfectly working

Introduction:
Both, Columbia and then Edison, in their quest for "high fidelity" and more volume introduced a new record format in 1898. Columbia called it "Grand", Edison "Concert", both were 5" diameter 4" long brown wax cylinders. The new cylinders could be played by Columbia's Grand graphophones (AG, HG, GG) and Edison's Concert phonograph, but were about 10 times more expensive than the regular 2-minute cylinders. This and their extreme fragility were the reasons, they did not sell well, which in turn together with their tendency to develop fungus are the reasons for an even more drastic price difference in today's market. Only early cylinders like the two for sale here were original recordings, later ones were pantographic copies of originals, which contributed to declining sales and price reductions by up to a factor of ten. 5" cylinders were not a mass product like the competing gold moulded black wax cylinders, and due to their superior sound quality often served as originals for dubbing standard cylinders.
Columbia's Grand graphophone model AG is an improved version from 1900 with a black and gold bed plate and was sold for $50. It has a beautiful quarter sawn oak cabinet, a powerful two-spring motor, and the upper works are decorated with red-gold-green flower emblems. The original 2-minute "floating" reproducer (predecessor of the Lyric) made from aluminum is relatively light-weighted and has a large 1¾" diaphragm made from triple reinforced mica with a stylus bar directly connected to it.
The graphophone comes with its original 36" long and 16" bell diameter factory supplied all-brass horn. Included in the sale is a 2-piece music stand type horn floor crane as well as two rare and expensive early 5" brown wax cylinders in their boxes (see below).

Additional information:
ref.1: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ijcO2qTARgY
ref.2: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yozc8At47aw

About my graphophone:
The quarter sawed oak cabinet is in mint condition and the Columbia Graphohone decal undamaged with beautiful fine vintage crazing. The upper works are in near mint condition with almost complete ornaments and no corrosion. The Floating reproducer is in excellent condition, with the original 3-tiered mica diaphragm and a good sapphire stylus. The 2-spring motor is perfect too and has been lubricated. The fall-off type crank is original. The 36" all-brass horn has a few unoffending dents and no corrosion, the 2-piece horn floor crane has a good black paint finish. Two 5" diameter Columbia Grand brown wax cylinders in original boxes are part of the sale. Any writings on container boxes for Grand and Concert records in general do not correspond to the cylinder's musical content. Since the cylinders themselves have no engravings, the only way to know what they contain is to play them. Here is what I found: The first cylinder has the announcement "A Picture No Artist Can Paint, sung by Mr. Steve Porter for Columbia Phonograph Company of New York and Paris". Baritone and comical artist Steve Porter [1864-1936] was a prolific pioneer recording artist and was a member of the Columbia Male (1904-1905), Peerless (1906-1909), and American Quartets (1909-1919). A Picture No Artist Can Paint was one of his most famous hits. Youtube video in ref.1 shows the record playing and lists the lyrics. You can also click on pict.31 to watch the video. The other record is announced by the singer himself as follows: "Brown October Ale, sung by J. W. Myers, by Columbia Phonograph Company". It was recorded on Feb.20, 1901. John W. Myers [1864-1919] was the leading baritone in the first decade. The song is from the operetta "Robin Hood" (1891) by Reginald De Koven and is on youtube (ref.2) with its lyric, or you can click on pict33. Please e-mail me (Kris) for any questions, ich spreche Deutsch, je parle Français.

Here are the specifications:

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