"Canadian"
I'm not sure it is the same
company but Roll
Back The Years, Edward Moogk, National
Library of Canada, 1975, on page 61 mentions:
"One machine that never quite got off the ground was the Best-Phone sold by two former Edison employees, J.J. Brophy and E.G. Bryson, from premises at 406-408 Yonge Street in Toronto. The Best-Phone was a concealed-horn machine with a duplex sound box and a diamond point and adjustable to play either lateral or horizontal-cut records. Even at $25, it apparently had little attraction for buyers. The Canadian Phonograph Company, situated at 103 Yonge Street, took over the Best-Phone but discontinued use of the corporate name."
However, on page 64 he mentions a Winnipeg company: "However, Ontario did not have a monopoly on the business since Winnipeg became the focal point for distribution in the growing Western Canada Market."...At the same time, the Canadian Phonograph and Sapphire Disc Co. Ltd. pushed its line of phonographs from premises in the Builders' Exchange Building."
There are no 'Best-Phone' machines on this page...yet.
Machine pictures taken at an outdoor antique sale in southern Ontario, 2005 (photos by KW).
"One machine that never quite got off the ground was the Best-Phone sold by two former Edison employees, J.J. Brophy and E.G. Bryson, from premises at 406-408 Yonge Street in Toronto. The Best-Phone was a concealed-horn machine with a duplex sound box and a diamond point and adjustable to play either lateral or horizontal-cut records. Even at $25, it apparently had little attraction for buyers. The Canadian Phonograph Company, situated at 103 Yonge Street, took over the Best-Phone but discontinued use of the corporate name."
However, on page 64 he mentions a Winnipeg company: "However, Ontario did not have a monopoly on the business since Winnipeg became the focal point for distribution in the growing Western Canada Market."...At the same time, the Canadian Phonograph and Sapphire Disc Co. Ltd. pushed its line of phonographs from premises in the Builders' Exchange Building."
There are no 'Best-Phone' machines on this page...yet.
Machine pictures taken at an outdoor antique sale in southern Ontario, 2005 (photos by KW).
Machine for sale in Toronto, Feb. 2008 (photos by KW):
Arthur Zimmerman sent:
Canadian Phonograph, produced by the National Cabinet Company, Ltd., 485 King Street West, Toronto (phonograph manufacturers for 15 years), CMTJ [Canadian Music Trades Journal], August 1919, p. 97
In 2011, John Rutherford, CAPS member, sent the following pictures:
'Sonograph' made for Canadian Phonograph from the Domenic DiBernardo Collection. Photographed by Cheryl Wright (rights reserved):
Sound box is labelled for 'Mason & Risch Toronto'--originally a piano company.
