I have personally found Domenic DiBernardo (the seller) to be a very knowledgeable, friendly, and quite helpful collector and think he would be happy (and quite able) to answer the question. The lighting for his pictures in this ad doesn't seem as good as some of the glossy shots of his machines that are published in various books though. What I think you are seeing is the result of the refraction of incandescent lighting through shellac/lacquer. He is using flash and may also have tried to correct the color temperature of the image (can't tell about the correction for sure though). If you have ever used a flash in conjunction with ambient lighting to take pictures of brass that is lacquered you will find it difficult. But if you use either bright sunlight (the best) or studio type lighting that has the correct full spectrum color temperature, things will go better. In this picture, I think the strange color is caused by incandescent light (too yellowish) and the dullness is created when the light from the flash (xenon gas) diffuses/refracts within the shellac/lacquer coating. That refraction causes a fuzzy optical layer that further obscures an already inaccurate color. Whether or not Zono horns were routinely coated in shellac/lacquer, I don't know, but if I were wondering I would probably ask a guy like Domenic, Tim F., George P., or others. Walt -----Original Message----- From: phono-l-bounces at oldcrank.org [mailto:phono-l-bounces at oldcrank.org] On Behalf Of Andrew Baron Sent: Thursday, January 11, 2007 12:06 PM To: Antique Phonograph List Subject: [Phono-L] Shellac coated brass horn on Zonophone A Zonophone model A has appeared on eBay, Item number: 260074366186. The body of the machine looks beautifully originally, although the brightness of the horn seems unnatural. The description states that the brass horn still has its original shellac coating on the outside. Did Zonophone actually do this (shellac or clear lacquer coat the brass)? I probably shouldn't question the seller since his rather imposing seller ID implies a knowledgeable collector, but I haven't heard of this practice. Andy Baron _______________________________________________ Phono-L mailing list http://phono-l.oldcrank.org -- No virus found in this incoming message. Checked by AVG Free Edition. Version: 7.1.410 / Virus Database: 268.16.9/622 - Release Date: 1/10/2007