Mike, the reason that the seller "knows" that is obvious in his statement:
Like most eBay items it starts with a statement of authenticity: "Extremely rare! Body and case are wood, painted black, with gold trim on base and rose flowers and daisy on case. I have been collecting antiques for over forty years from coast to coast. This is the only one I have ever seen." So this is how he "knows" the paint is original: "HE has NEVER seen one." :) Neither has anyone else, so maybe there is a reason for that... it is a one-off previous owner painted machine. It could have been painted by the original owner, shortly after it left the factory and the paint would be "period authentic" - 100 + yrs. old. The thing that looked non-factory, is that the flower design on the horn and the flower design on the case, were similar but not the same design/style. The horn had the same gold scroll work added as on the base - not a difficult task for an artist. > Date: Sat, 9 Apr 2011 11:55:15 -0700 > From: smst...@gmail.com > To: phono-l@oldcrank.org > Subject: Re: [Phono-L] eBay GEM - Is this real? > > Ward an interesting comment. How would the seller know that? > > On Sat, Apr 9, 2011 at 11:21 AM, Ward Sandstrom <w...@bis.midco.net> wrote: > > > I contacted the seller days ago and he said that as far as he knows the > > paint was applied at the factory. He didn't put my question and his answer > > back in his auction. Ward S. > > ----- Original Message ----- From: "Rich" <rich-m...@octoxol.com> > > To: "Antique Phonograph List" <phono-l@oldcrank.org> > > Sent: Saturday, April 09, 2011 12:09 PM > > Subject: Re: [Phono-L] eBay GEM - Is this real? > > > > > > > > Some of these enhancements were done in the early 50s, and during the > >> depression to improve mail order saleability of used phonos. To tell what > >> you are looking at you would have to be doing paint analysis to date it. > >> Does not realy look Factory though. > >> > >> On 04/09/2011 11:23 AM, Steve Andersen wrote: > >> > >>> I believe it was not done at the factory. Usually the factory would put > >>> special guilt on the casting, not the case. Either a jobber or an artistic > >>> owner did this. > >>> > >>> Steve > >>> On Apr 9, 2011, at 11:20 AM, Vinyl Visions wrote: > >>> > >>> > >>>> > >>>> I found an auction for an Edison GEM, with rose flowered horn and > >>>> decorated case which matches and appears to be old... > >>>> > >>>> Question: did Edison ever produce a machine with a flowered case to > >>>> match the horn - seller claims it to be VERY rare? > >>>> eBay Item number: 230604577714 > >>>> > >>>> http://cgi.ebay.com/Edison-Gem-Phonograph-Rose-Flower-Horn-Case-Very-Rare_W0QQitemZ230604577714QQcategoryZ38029QQcmdZViewItemQQ_trksidZp4340.m1374QQ_trkparmsZalgo%3DPI%26its%3DC%26itu%3DUCC%26otn%3D5%26ps%3D63%26clkid%3D8335346353050994345 > >>>> _______________________________________________ > >>>> Phono-L mailing list > >>>> http://phono-l.oldcrank.org > >>>> > >>> > >>> _______________________________________________ > >>> Phono-L mailing list > >>> http://phono-l.oldcrank.org > >>> > >>> > >>> _______________________________________________ > >> Phono-L mailing list > >> http://phono-l.oldcrank.org > >> > >> > > _______________________________________________ > > Phono-L mailing list > > http://phono-l.oldcrank.org > > > _______________________________________________ > Phono-L mailing list > http://phono-l.oldcrank.org _______________________________________________ Phono-L mailing list http://phono-l.oldcrank.org