A lidless tabletop model phonograph was marketed with two different labels: "The Empire" and "Ideal". This model was advertised in 1917 by both the Regal Phonograph Co. Ltd., Model No. 2, and the Purdy Phonograph Company, Model No. 25.
The Empire Story
There were multiple Empire-branded phonographs marketed in Canada with three distinct labels.
1. McLagan "Empire"
2. Purdy/Regal "Empire"
3. Purdy/Phonola "Empire"
The George McLagan Furniture Co., Ltd. association with the Empire brand is well documented. The initial McLagan ads for this brand appear alongside ads for the company's major phonograph brand, Lyric, in newspapers across Canada beginning in mid-1918.
The Regal Phonograph Co. had been manufacturing phonographs under the "Ideal" brand since 1915. In 1917, the company moved to 145 Church Street, Toronto, which Talking Machine World described as a three-storey building being fitted out as Regal's "factory, office and show-rooms." The earliest ads for the Purdy Phonograph Company show its address as 151 Church Street. So the two companies were practically next door to each other.
Beginning in mid-1917, Purdy marketed a line of phonographs named Grandola. At the same time, the company advertised phonograph models identical to machines illustrated in Regal advertisements from early 1917. It appears that Purdy was both a manufacturer and a jobber. It is possible that Purdy purchased the Regal cabinet/machine, changed the branding to Empire, and sold it as its own private-label phonograph.
A good example is the lidless tabletop model shown on this page. Regal advertised it as the Ideal Model No. 2, while Purdy advertised it as the Empire Model no. 25. The safest historical conclusion is that the “The Empire” tabletop is a private-label version of the Regal Ideal Model No. 2, with Regal the probable manufacturer and Purdy apparently involved in its distribution.
Purdy manufactured an acoustic upright phonograph with a third Empire label design. A substantially later Orthophonic-style Empire was manufactured by the Phonola Company of Canada, Ltd., Kitchener, Ontario. The two machines bear apparently identical Empire labels, suggesting that the Empire name may have been a private or trade brand used by more than one Canadian manufacturer. Whether there was a direct commercial connection between Purdy and Phonola remains unknown.
Canadian Music Trades Journal, June 1917, p. 38. A lidless tabletop phonograph, Model No. 2, marketed by the Regal Phonograph Co., 145 Church Street, Toronto.
Canadian Furniture World and the Undertaker, May 1917, p. 34. An identical lidless tabletop phonograph, Model No. 25, marketed by the Purdy Phonograph Company, 151 Church Street, Toronto.
"Ideal"-branded tabletop phonograph for sale in Mississauga, Ontario in 2026.
"The Empire"-branded tabletop phonograph for sale in Drummondville, Quebec in 2026.
