Online  Discography Zonophon-Ansichtskarten & Musika phono cards

Acknowledgements:
Frank Andrews, Lyle Boehland, Alan Dein, Matthew Dodd, Benno Häupl, Alan Kelly, Allen Koenigsberg, Raoul Konetzni, Bernd Meyer-Rähnitz, Kurt Nauck, Stephan Puille, Allan Sutton

Introductory notes:
The basic idea of a gramophone postcard is to glue a single sided miniature disc record onto a postcard and punch a center hole through both card and disc. For further details see the exploratory history of the phono postcard

Zonophon talking cards

The surviving files of the Gramophone & Typewriter Company contain no reference whatsoever to such postcards. At present it can only be guessed that this was the work of an outside specialist firm who had an agreement with Zonophone before the takeover and whose contract went to G&T along with everything else.  Who then could be behind this venture? Ritter-Strasse, like an oriental bazaar, was the address of many companies active in the talking machine business. Ritter-Strasse 93 was the address of the Adler Phonograph Company. This could explain the cryptic reference to a "gramophonic system", as Adler manufactured vertical-cut cylinders while Gramophone and Zonophone manufactured lateral-cut disc records.

In 1910 in Germany, Zonophon announced what they called "Musik-Postkarten" (songs, marches, or congratulations recorded to order)  and claimed the total playing time to be 1/3 of a regular disc. Whether this is the same enterprise that was already active in 1903 we do not know, but at least on card number 51 a German patent number is given which identifies the card clearly as belonging to Zonophon. Most Zonophon cards from this series have a brownish disc pasted onto a monochrome (white) card, with embossed pictorial and floral designs, while some had matching photographic portraits of the artists. The same recordings that had been used on the early embossed cards have later been marketed with a different design, now printed in colour, first as chromolithographed cards and later under the trademark "Musika-Tonpostkarten".  The backs are divided. Postally run cards appear to have been postmarked in 1914. "Musika" phono cards had clearly been intended for export to the United States. They may or may not have been associated with "Musica", a name that was protected by French singer and entrepreneur George Dutreih in Paris in 1904, and renewed by the German Polyphon Werke Aktiengesellschaft in 1921.
                   

Label listing:                                  
Zonophon-Postkarten (1903 catalog)
Zonophon (Embossed) and Musika combined listing

Clicking the links below will present a selection of images

..1	..2	..3	..4	..5	..6	..7	..8	..9	.10	.11	.12	.13	.14	.15	.16	.17	.18	.19	.20
.21	.22	.23	.24	.25	.26	.27	.28	.29	.30	.31	.32	.33	.34	.35	.36	.37	.38	.39	.40
.41	.42	.43	.44	.45	.46	.47	.48	.49	.50	.51	.52	.53	.54	.55	.56	.57	.58	.59	.60
61	.62	.63	.64	.65	.66	.67	.68	.69	.70	.71	.72	.73	.74	.75	.76	.77	.78	.79	.80
.81	.82	.83	.84	.85	.86	.87	.88	.89	.90	.91	.92	.93	.94	.95	.96	.97	.98	.99	100
101	102	103	104	105	106	107	108	109	110	111	112	113	114	115	116	117	118	119	120
121	122	123	124	125	126	127	128	129	130	131	132	133	134	135	136	137	138	139	140
141	142	143	144	145	146	147	148	149	150	151	152	153	154	155	156	157	158	159	160
161	162	163	164	165	166	167	168	169	170	171	172	173	174	175	176	177	178	179	180
181	182	183	184	185	186	187	188	189	190	191	192	193	194	195	196	197	198	199	200
201	202	203	204	205	206	207	208	209	210	211	212	213	214	215	216	217	218	219	230
301	302	303	304	305	306	307	308	309	310	311	312	313	314	315	316	317	318	319	320
401	402	403	404	405	406	407	408	409	410	411	412	413	414	415	416	417	418	419	420
601	602	603	604	605	606	607	608	609	610	611	612	613	614	615	616	617	618	619	620
			.24	.25		.27								.15		.37			180
			.24	.45
			.24	184

no mx-When Dreams Come True          no mx-Gardeleutnant

reverse                                                  reverse

It is not presently possible to determine the total number of cards produced, and information on matrix numbers etc can only be derived from physical autopsy of the artifacts. If you have additions or corrections: Please contact us by e-mail: Rainer E. Lotz
 
  Updated 2009-08-01