There have been a few commercial production runs of Kreusi replicas, but
also untold numbers of privately-made ones. The blueprints used to be sold by
the Edison National Historic Site and allowed anyone with machining skills to
make one or more.
The three best known of the larger production runs were the following:
Elmer Jones in the 1960s or 1970s. These were quite well made and can be
readily identified because they have his name cast into the underside of the
base.
Bill Ptacek from 1995 to 2004. Bill's made somewhere over 50 in total, of
exceptional quality. All have his initials ("WCP") cast underneath the base,
along with a serial number (e.g. "9605" -- the year and the sequence number
within that year.)
Mirek Stehlik ca. 1995 or so. Mirek made 25 absolutely perfect copies. He
did not cast his name or initials into the base, but each has a serial number
stamped into the end of the main shaft.
There was another commercial run of machines made in the 1970s, I'll have to
dig through my files to find the maker's name. I have never seen one of these
so I don't know if they were marked in any way. The original promotional
material didn't state whether they were marked.
I have seen many privately-made examples, varying in quality from very
amateurish to highly professional. One of the best of these one-offs was shown on
the cover of the December 1977 issue of "Audio" magazine, and described in
detail in an accompanying article. The author appears to sell himself short when
he wrote that is isn't an expert machinist -- it looks outstanding -- but he
did note that it took him over 300 hours to make.
I hope this helps.
Best regards,
Rene Rondeau
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