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You can add 26029 to the list of 102s with universal autobrake.

HMV serial numbers are a bit of a minefield, as the system of numbering changed fairly frequently. The system introduced in 1930 (for all models, including the 101) had 10 digits, starting with the model number, and with '0's in the middle to allow for succession. This system carried on into the early 1930s (probably until 1934), although the 102 has 9 digits rather than 10. As far as I know, the numbers within this system for any one model are sequential, so the original 102 presumably started at 102000001, though 4744 is the lowest I have seen. The highest number on my list is 102023??? (last 3 digits missing, can't remember why.)
The lowest I have for 102A (with No 6 brake) is 102041955. But the No 6 brake was made available as a conversion kit for the original model, so there may be some apparent 102a's around with lower numbers than would be expected.

No records survive of these numbers, so it is merely a matter of recording examples seen. The serial numbers from 1936 are on record, and there is no logical sequence; random blocks of numbers were allocated to various EMI models in advance, so the numbers are of no use for estimating date. They can be found by reference to the original list, though this is unnecessary because those coded dates referred to by Ian Calderbank give the the date. (The 'B', by the way, is the code for Acoustic Gramophone.)

My MOS 102D serial is B/9 6319, and it has the universal autobrake. That thing is a wonder.

Oedipus wrote:HMV serial numbers are a bit of a minefield, as the system of numbering changed fairly frequently. The system introduced in 1930 (for all models, including the 101) had 10 digits, starting with the model number, and with '0's in the middle to allow for succession. This system carried on into the early 1930s (probably until 1934), although the 102 has 9 digits rather than 10. As far as I know, the numbers within this system for any one model are sequential, so the original 102 presumably started at 102000001, though 4744 is the lowest I have seen. The highest number on my list is 102023??? (last 3 digits missing, can't remember why.)
The lowest I have for 102A (with No 6 brake) is 102041955. But the No 6 brake was made available as a conversion kit for the original model, so there may be some apparent 102a's around with lower numbers than would be expected.

No records survive of these numbers, so it is merely a matter of recording examples seen. The serial numbers from 1936 are on record, and there is no logical sequence; random blocks of numbers were allocated to various EMI models in advance, so the numbers are of no use for estimating date. They can be found by reference to the original list, though this is unnecessary because those coded dates referred to by Ian Calderbank give the the date. (The 'B', by the way, is the code for Acoustic Gramophone.)

Just to mention, there was a lower number than 4744 mentioned on the following link (No. 2879) for you to see - also mentioned earlier in this thread:

http://forum.talkingmachine.info/viewto ... 14&t=36580

Thanks - duly added to my list. I would particularly welcome news of any number under 1000.

B/9 is the correct date code for a 1945 MOS 102D. But I am intrigued as to how a No 5 brake could be fitted; it would need a 271-C motor (with extended intermediate shaft and cam to operate the brake), and I am not sure how that would work with a wood motor board.

Oedipus wrote:B/9 is the correct date code for a 1945 MOS 102D. But I am intrigued as to how a No 5 brake could be fitted; it would need a 271-C motor (with extended intermediate shaft and cam to operate the brake), and I am not sure how that would work with a wood motor board.

Marriage ? perhaps the owner will post some pictures ?

I'm pretty sure the OP is mistakenly identifying the autobrake. The "universal" brake is the No.5, which was fitted to the very first 102s, and was discontinued after a very short life. Apart from the fact that an MOS 102 has a wooden motorboard, to which a "universal" brake cannot be fixed, because of the boards' thickness, I doubt HMV would start fitting a brake to the MOS 102s that they had discarded as unreliable some 13 years previously!

I saw this 102 number 33389 which seems to be with the original autobrake.

Hopefully a useful number for the list.

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/HIS-MASTERS- ... rk:32:pf:0

Thanks - so now we have:

102s with the early autobrake (I've deleted the "1020" prefix):

2879
4744 (also typo'd as 4774)
5718
7553
12379
26029
30941
33389

Earliest 102 with the next version of brake:

63326

Now looking to narrow the gap between 33389 and 63326.