These are more old headphones from the 1920's that are on display from my collection.
These are for display only, not for sale. To see my crystal radio webpage take the link to:
Scott's Crystal Radios where I have a page of Headphones For Sale.

This page shows several different headphones by Chester Brandes Company. The dates are approximate and are taken from old radio magazines that show the pictures of the headphones in the ads. After the merger with Cannon they went to the simple metal headband with no cloth and put on the plastic earcaps with the small homes instead of the one large central hole.
These are the oldest ones I have found. They are circa 1917 and have the ball and socket type of connection with the celluloid or fiber type headband.

These ones are circa 1919 and have the double metalheadband with the name Brandes Superior on the top of the headband. The earpieces pictured may not have been the originals.

Brandes NHI came in a style that had a plastic or bakelite cover over the wire terminals and this style with no cover. I believe that these are prior to 1920.

There are the very uncommon Brandes Transtlantic from about 1921 or so. They measure 5000 ohms and are very sensitive. They were a very expensive set and I found an ad in a 1921 Radio News magazine for them, so that dates them to that year.

These are the ones from about 1923 with the nice cloth covered headband and the word Superior in an italic script font.

Brandes Navy Type were the top of the line Brandes headphones with a nice 3 conductor heavy duty cloth covered cord with grounded shielding. They were 3000 ohms, and had the same headband as the Brandes Superior. This pair was circa 1925, other varieties date back to 1920.

Next were the ones with all the print enclosed in a box as pictured. This basic design was used on the back of the phones from about 1924 through the 30's. These had the nice cloth covered headband.

After the merger with the Cannon company they made the headbands cheaper with simple metal bands, no cloth padding. The earcaps were made of plastic with the multiple small listening holes instead of the one central hole.The magnets were also changed from the flat curved shape to a tubular curved shape. Saving money I guess.

The Brandes Admiral were 4000 ohm headphones that were similar to the later Superiors, cheaper made phones with simple metal headband, produced after the Cannon merger.

Email to scott@oldheadphones.com
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