I wouldn't worry about that TA. It doesn't have to be a rare & valuable machine to be a feature phono, and even the humble portable deserves to be in the spot light now and then.transformingArt wrote:* Note: I actually tried to write this as a "Featured Phonograph", but since there might be so many people at here who would laugh at me for introducing a PORTABLE, I decided that I'll write down about this as a independent post. To be honest, I'm not a Machine person, but a Record person, so I hope you'll understand.
Personally, I'd like to see ALL the HMV, Victor, Columbia portables (& many others) featured and archived eventually. There's always somebody out there looking for information on "Grandma's picnic gramophone", so it's a great drawcard for the board, and as collector I find it nice to even see simple variations within the same model, like a change in soundbox, motor or braking system.
I think it all adds to the interest of the hobby.
You were very lucky to be given "the worlds greatest portable", and knowing the full history of any machine is always an added bonus. I particularly like the polished motor board on your example. Most 102's that I see here are later models with a rexine covered motor board. I think it adds a bit of olde world charm
These really are a wonderful sounding machine. They certainly beat the pants off even the transistorized portables from the 1960s & 70s that I've ever heard. Pretty amasing when you think about it. It's not hard to see why they were still selling in the early 60s.
I too have always wanted a 102, but still haven't got myself one. I always get outbid, and they seldom go here for under about $300 for even a basic black model anyway
Congratulations, and thanks for sharing your 102 we us.
While we're on the subject of 102's, it's probably worth mentioning that when first introduced, they had the short lived HMV No.16 soundbox. The No.16 looked like a Victor orthophonic, but was pressed together instead of screwed, making it irrepairable. Possibly the reason they were discontinued & reverted to the older 5a/5b.
I also recently found scans of the instruction manual on the web, so thought I'd add them to the thread. I'm sure there's a lot of folks out there who have a 102 minus instructions.
BTW: Your Japanese Victor sounds interesting. Feel free to share that one too sometime