From The Encyclopedia of Music in Canada (Author Carl Morey):
"A leading Canadian piano manufacturing firm
established in 1871 in Toronto by the former A
& S. Nordheimer accountant Thomas G. Mason, with Vincent
M. Risch and Octavius Newcombe. During its first six
years it imported and sold music and instruments.
Risch supervised piano tuning and repairs. The first
piano was built in 1877. A year later the
Mason-Risch-Newcombe partnership was dissolved, and
Mason & Risch continued their business
association, developing a cross-country retail chain
(which later included the distribution of records and
talking machines) and making extensive sales abroad.
.. In 1948 it was sold to Winter & Co of the USA
but continued to manufacture pianos in Toronto under
the Mason & Risch name. The cross-Canada retail
network was terminated with the closing in 1949 of the
Vancouver outlet, but that same year Mason & Risch
(Winter & Co) bought Sterling Action & Keys Co
of Brantford, Ont. In 1959 the Winter family purchased
the controlling interest in the US Aeolian Corp and
set up Aeolian of Canada, a holding company for Mason
& Risch. In 1969 Mason & Risch purchased the
George Dansereau & Sons Lumber Mill in Grenville,
Que. In 1971 the Sterling Action & Keys Co was
closed, and in 1968 the Toronto factory was moved to
new premises in Scarborough, from which it continued
to manufacture Mason & Risch uprights until the
early 1980s. After 1950, however, all grand and player
pianos were manufactured in the USA and exported (to
Canada and elsewhere) by Aeolian."
Toronto World, Oct. 19, 1919, p. 13. This is an early advertisement for Mason & Risch phonographs manufactured in their factory. The ad shows styles 124,
150, 175 and 225 (coincidentally they are the prices, like Edison's Amberola 30s, 50s, 60s and 75s):
Vancouver Sunday Sun, Nov. 1st and 4th, 1920, p. 40 (proof that sales hyperbole isn't a new phenomenon):
Calgary Herald, Nov. 25, 1920 page 14:
Vancouver Sun, Dec. 11 1921, page 34 showing style 'C':
Morning Leader, Dec. 15 1921 page 8, "Made, sold and guaranteed by us, at "From Factory to Home" prices":
Calgary Daily Herald, Dec. 5, 1922 page16:
Edmonton Journal, July 6, 1923 page 4:
Calgary Daily Herald, April, 7 1925 page 18:
Calgary Daily Herald, March 17, 1928 page 12 (looks like model 225 is now $37.50):
Calgary Daily Herald, Nov. 20, 1929 page 3 (prices collapsed after the stock market?):
Things weren't going so well in the Edmonton Journal, April 3, 1931 on page 25:
Style 175 (model No. 391) KW found at Aberfoyle Ontario, May 2012. It had Columbia works which I didn't bother to photograph:
Another mahogany Mason & Risch upright.
Sound box on a 'Sonograph' made for Canadian Phonograph in the Domenic DiBernardo Collection photographed by Cheryl Wright labeled 'Mason and Risch Toronto':
Needle tins in the collection of Keith Wright:
Machine for sale on Craigslist March 2012:
An oak upright cabinet model for sale at the September 12, 2019 CAPS Zoom auction:
A Mason & Risch mahogany upright for sale through a Mad Picker Antiques & Collectibles online auction in 2023. Submitted by Lance Husoy.
