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Interesting ebay auction - John Boulton stereo

Boulton faceplates were made of leather. I'll bet they're the only manufacturer who ever did that.
 
62caddy said:
Thanks for that article. This may be the only thread where the people behind the equipment proved more interesting than the equipment itself.

I watch Boulton listings on eBay every so often mainly because of past experience but never pursued it because it's simply too impractical for me to get involved with, both logistically and economically. Restoration of old Boulton gear is bound to be challenging.

If nothing else, it may have some collector interest as a static display and/or conversation piece provoking a telling of the Boulton story.
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Like a coffee table book:idea:?
 
62caddy said:
At the risk of getting into the weeds here, John and Prudence Boulton were well known socialites in the greater NYC area. John had been an engineer and Prudence was an heiress to the Flagler fortune. Dovetailing into all this was Boulton's main retail location in a fashionable district in NYC. No doubt between sips of champagne and nibbles of caviar and pate de fois gras, talk of audio installations took place between the couple and their many well-heeled friends at their soirees. But as they say, you can only fool some people some of the time...

John and Prudence had also contracted to build an enormous glass house in NJ which they named Chalan Farm. I don't know whether the construction was ever completed or whether the Boultons ever assumed residence before the money ran out.
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Might be getting in the weeds but honestly this kind of background stuff is what's interesting. I think it's a shame more of the human story of the industry isn't known and documented. Always felt like there's a great book waiting to be written but at the rate things are going no one will be left to tell the tale.
 
Thanks for posting the photos. Man, the design of that stack is really bad. The proportions are plain wrong. Its as if a cabinetmaker just built something with zero consideration to how it actually looks. Don't these guys know that there are books on the subject of design and proportion? End rant.
 
You are welcome, I love finding stuff like this ( I'm a bit of an auction junkie too ) . How are the proportions wrong? I assume they just gave the cabinet maker the height of each item, and they built for that.
 
heavymod said:
You are welcome, I love finding stuff like this ( I'm a bit of an auction junkie too ) . How are the proportions wrong? I assume they just gave the cabinet maker the height of each item, and they built for that.
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In a design sense, they are very displeasing to put it simply. There are dimensions that work well together and there is no reason that the cabinet couldn’t have been designed using this knowledge, unless of course the parties involved were ignorant of it.
 
Lazarus Long said:
In a design sense, they are very displeasing to put it simply. There are dimensions that work well together and there is no reason that the cabinet couldn’t have been designed using this knowledge, unless of course the parties involved were ignorant of it.
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It's too bad, because that looks like some nicely figured walnut veneer that they used.
 
Lazarus Long said:
In a design sense, they are very displeasing to put it simply. There are dimensions that work well together and there is no reason that the cabinet couldn’t have been designed using this knowledge, unless of course the parties involved were ignorant of it.
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Not to mention the turntable is right on the floor. What a stupid company
 
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