In 1898, three years after Nipper's death, Francis Barraud, his last owner and brother of his first owner, painted a picture of Nipper listening intently to a wind-up Edison-Bell cylinder phonograph. Thinking the Edison-Bell Company located in New Jersey, USA, might find it useful, he offered it to James E. Hough, who promptly replied, "Dogs don't listen to phonographs". On 31 May 1899, Barraud went to the Maiden Lane offices of The Gramophone Company with the intention of borrowing a brass horn to replace the original black horn on the painting. The Gramophone Company founder and manager, William Barry Owen suggested that if the artist replaced the machine with a Berliner disc gramophone, he would buy the painting. Barraud obliged, and the image became the successful trademark of the Victor and HMV record labels, HMV music stores, and the Radio Corporation of America, after the acquisition of the Victor company in 1929. The trademark was registered by Berliner for use in the United States on 10 July 1900. (See His Master's Voice for a complete history of the brands based on Nipper.)