Lot Essay
This early form of tape-player, using the optical rather than the magnetic system, was marketed in 1937, with an extensive range of recordings by Isobel Baillie, Sydney Lipton, Harold Williams, Phil Green, Alfredo Campoli and others. Each tape had two tracks, giving a claimed total playing time of about thirty minutes for the 7-inch size, at a time when only cinemas and broadcasting studios had records playing longer than the four minutes or so of a 78 r.p.m. disc. The 'Console' example has no integral speaker, and was designed to be used with an existing radio receiver (which could be placed on top) or a radiogram. Most of the tapes in the present collection have been affected by flooding, but there are about ten which appear to be in sound condition. Another model, with integral speaker, from the estate of Ozaphane's one-time Managing Direcor, C.O.Hamer, was sold in Christie's Great Rooms, July 23 1974.