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How rare are the Blue and Red HMV 102 machines?

Posted: Sat Apr 07, 2018 11:27 am
by Victrolacollector
How rare are the HMV 102 machines in red and blue?

Re: How rare are the Blue and Red HMV 102 machines?

Posted: Sat Apr 07, 2018 11:52 am
by Teak
not very, remember, the 102 sold for a very long time. One in good, original condition on the other hand - quite rare!

Re: How rare are the Blue and Red HMV 102 machines?

Posted: Sat Apr 07, 2018 2:46 pm
by Sidewinder
Was there not a red 101, and a red 102 with gold plated (instead of nickel plated) metal pieces. Those look really impressive, and probably quite desirable?

Re: How rare are the Blue and Red HMV 102 machines?

Posted: Sat Apr 07, 2018 2:49 pm
by Retrograde
Of the colors offered, Brown and Grey leatherette are not common here in the USA. The red was offered in leather with gold gilt which again is not very common here.

Sidewinder, yes, the 101 and 102 both were offered in red and red leather (according to the Cooper book).

Re: How rare are the Blue and Red HMV 102 machines?

Posted: Sat Apr 07, 2018 5:56 pm
by CarlosV
101s and 102s are as rare as Bing Crosby's White Christmas record! It appears that every English person born between 1900 and 1950 was given one, probably by Royal decree. There are multiple variations, including the color versions that you mention, but the only ones you can call rare are the colonial models. Blue and red 102s are offered daily in the UK ebay. One that is less common, but I would not call rare, is the de luxe version of the 101, covered in red leather and with gilt parts.

Re: How rare are the Blue and Red HMV 102 machines?

Posted: Sun Apr 08, 2018 3:55 am
by epigramophone
Retrograde wrote:Of the colors offered, Brown and Grey leatherette are not common here in the USA. The red was offered in leather with gold gilt which again is not very common here.

Sidewinder, yes, the 101 and 102 both were offered in red and red leather (according to the Cooper book).
Brown and Grey 102's are uncommon because they sold poorly and were discontinued in the mid 1930's. The red leather 102 was discontinued at about the same time, as it proved too expensive in the depression years to sell in any quantity.

The really rare 102's are the Pale Green and the Pink versions, which are not even mentioned in the Cooper book. I understand that the few Pink survivors have mostly faded to a creamy colour. I have seen one Pale Green 102 in over 50 years collecting but have never seen a Pink one.

Re: How rare are the Blue and Red HMV 102 machines?

Posted: Sun Apr 08, 2018 5:27 pm
by Phono48
epigramophone wrote:I have seen one Pale Green 102 in over 50 years collecting but have never seen a Pink one.

I've never seen a pale green one, but about thirty years ago, I was offered a pink one in sparkling condition, and was told it had belonged to Barbara Cartland. (probably a made-up story?). Unfortunately, at the time, I couldn't afford what the seller wanted for it - £75.00! Never regretted anything so much in all my life.

Re: How rare are the Blue and Red HMV 102 machines?

Posted: Sun Apr 08, 2018 7:17 pm
by Teak
epigramophone wrote: Sidewinder, yes, the 101 and 102 both were offered in red and red leather (according to the Cooper book).
The really rare 102's are the Pale Green and the Pink versions, which are not even mentioned in the Cooper book. I understand that the few Pink survivors have mostly faded to a creamy colour. I have seen one Pale Green 102 in over 50 years collecting but have never seen a Pink one.
Graham wrote on his site: The 102E (blue and red) was produced for 10 years between 1948 and 1958.

http://www.graham-ophones.co.uk/hmv-red ... 4581320882

Re: How rare are the Blue and Red HMV 102 machines?

Posted: Mon Apr 23, 2018 9:10 am
by mariof
As others have mentioned above the Red, Green and Black 102s aren't all that rare as they were made for so long. I personally like the earlier models as they were finished a little better, the later ones were made cheaper. The Grey I believe was only made for 1 or 2 years and the brown was available for only a little longer. I've owned a about three Brown 102s but have only had the opportunity to buy 1 grey 102 (I've seen a few grey 101s in comparison). I'd love to see the pale green and pink and find it difficult to be convinced that they are around (surely there would be a photograph by now happy to be shown otherwise though!!). I've kept my 102 collection to 102c models or earlier. The dust covers are relatively difficult to come by and the original cartons even more difficult. They sound awesome for a portable of course.

Re: How rare are the Blue and Red HMV 102 machines?

Posted: Mon Apr 23, 2018 1:12 pm
by epigramophone
The pale green 102, which was certainly genuine, appeared on eBay some years ago and sold for over £300.

There are some "one off" machines about, such as the brown leather 101 pictured in the Cooper book, which never entered production.