Standard Talking Machine, Model A

This article is part of the ANTIQUE PHONOGRAPH, GRAMOPHONE AND TALKING MACHINE IDENTIFICATION GUIDES.
SEE ALSO: Our listings of outside horn talking machines for sale.

The Standard Talking Machine, Style A, was a "scheme" or giveaway machine introduced around 1909 by the Great Northern Manufacturing Company of Chicago, Illinois.

All mechanical parts consisted of regular Columbia components.

The machine and a set of coupons were supplied to local merchants. For each purchase, the merchant's customer received a coupon good toward toward the price of the machine. The only catch was that the Standard A was fitted with an oversize quarter inch spindle which would not accept regular 78rpm records. The special records for the Standard A had to be purchased separately, and were usually stamped from worn matrices.

Judging from the number of surving examples, the promotion must have been wildly successful, for the Standard A is one of the most common outside horn disc phonographs.