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Yes, it is in the correct European category. Friend of mine told me that he had a Victor portable in his basement. Went to see it because was highly suspicious about it as they were never officially imported to Finland and are therefore very rare in here. Well, it is sort of Victor, but made in Switzerland! It has got a ”swiss made” stamp on the soundbox, turntable and motor are by Paillard. I have never seen anything like it before. It is mint condition and appears to be unused. Trademark violation?

I don't think that the word "Victor" was trademarked in all countries outside the US, especially in Europe. Therefore any vendor could have called a gramophone model "Victor". So this may have very well been a Paillard Victor...

Andreas

Beautiful! How does it sound?

You might see if there are any vintage Paillard catalogues or advertisements accessible online.

Bill

I tend to agreee with Andreas. Actually, before the internet, I had no idea that gramophones were called "Victor" in the USA. It is just a common latin word over here, and anyone could have used it to name his product.

Nothing, from parts to design, not even the font of the "victor" decal, seems to connect this portable with Victor USA.

It is definitely a Paillard made portable, but some sort of client model? To my knowledge Paillard, which not only supplied tons of parts to off-brands, also sold machines under their own brand name. I dont’t think Paillard would have named their portable “Victor”. Paillard sold machines would have also had identical soundboxes bearing the Paillard logo on the front. I can’t help not having a feeling that this machine was sold by an off-brand and they wanted to boost sales by creating an image of affiliation to Victor.

It may be true, but it has to be investigated locally. Here in Italy, naming "Victor" a gramophone would have been absolutely pointless: nobody knew the name back then, all products were marketed as "La voce del padrone". I will re-check the period ads I have at home but if my memory doesn't fail the "Victor" brand was never used here in "the days", and was absolutely unknown. Of course this may vary elsewhere across Europe.

Marco Gilardetti wrote:It may be true, but it has to be investigated locally. Here in Italy, naming "Victor" a gramophone would have been absolutely pointless: nobody knew the name back then, all products were marketed as "La voce del padrone". I will re-check the period ads I have at home but if my memory doesn't fail the "Victor" brand was never used here in "the days", and was absolutely unknown. Of course this may vary elsewhere across Europe.

Very similar in other European countries. Victor and HMV divided the world markets between them and did not sell into the other's markets. So in all European countries it was some translation of His Master's Voice - aside from Germany and Austria who had to use other trademarks during/after World War I for a while (Odeon, etc).

Andreas

Jaso wrote:It is definitely a Paillard made portable, but some sort of client model? ... I dont’t think Paillard would have named their portable “Victor”. ...

I agree it's probably a Paillard client model. It's possible that "Victor" was the name of a department or music store, etc..

At the time this portable was produced -- mid to late 1930s -- The Victor Talking Machine Co. was wholly absorbed by RCA, and their products bore the name RCA Victor.

BTW, there was a discussion on this forum awhile back about the various models sold by RCA Victor during the 1930s and 1940s. This site shows most of them -- http://www.mulhollandpress.com/styled-2 ... index.html While none are labeled "Victor", the word "Victrola" does appear on some.

HTH,
OrthoFan