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.
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