Antique Brass Key Used On Phonograph Machines Back In 1914

Art is difficult to valuate. Especially in today’s era, art market is, too, affected by the demand-supply curve as any other product or service. In 2008, Forbes reported that some contemporary pieces were depreciated in value by up to 90% due to fewer buyers in the market and a healthy supply of new art.

For individuals ranging from wealthy patrons, private collectors, and independent collectors to passionate scouts for flea markets and estate sales, art is a passion. Hunting for the most exquisite pieces, it turns out brass key is a very popular antique piece – with variations in the degree of antiquating, including rust, slight bends, tarnish, pitting, bent or missing teeth, and small cracks.

cheney7_art antiques london — Art antiques in London

With origins in the Napoleonic (1799-1815), Georgian (1714-1830), Victorian (1837-1901), Romantic (1850-1920’s), Machine (1900-1945) or Modern/Vintage Eras (1930’s – present), brass keys were widely used for churches, castles, gates, furniture, cabinets, dungeons, clocks, pad locks, safes and old dwellings.

Brass keys were also commonly used on machines such as the Cheney Talking Machine Phonograph. The Cheney Talking Machine was invented in 1914 by Forest Cheney, a musical prodigy and a concert violinist at the age of 23, and a machine that played records with an octagonal tone arm that according to him “somehow mystically harmonized” with the octaves of the musical scale. A lover of arts and collected paintings, etchings, and water colors, Forest Cheney also taught violin and voice in New York City and for one year was curator of the Waldorf Art Gallery.

The Cheney Place building was built by Cheney in 1916 to manufacture his invention. In 1919, Department store magnate Marshall Field, turned part of a high traffic area on the third floor of his Chicago store into “an aristocratic talking machine parlor.” There he displayed the Cheney machines, including a carved Georgian model which sold for $800—an extravagant amount then, which accounting for inflation would come to approximately $9,200 today. Cheney Talking machines were built there until 1936—when newer technology made them obsolete.

cheney4 — The brass key used on The Cheney Talking Machine

Shanghai Metal Corporation produces a wide variety of precision Brass Strip for Key to special requirements. Continuous strip-casting machines produce long, weld-free coils of uniform composition and properties, and automatic electronic gauge-controls maintain consistent thickness. To learn more about our metal products, please visit our website. Please also follow us on Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn. Try also our newmobile application by scanning the QR code below.

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