The Talking Machine Forum — For All Antique Phonographs & Recordings

Hello everyone,
I was contacted by a friends cousin this week. He said he has a warehouse full of mostly antique radios and some phonographs. He wants to sell many but will only sell in lots of 100 minimum. I counted about 16 phonographs (I think). His pictures were "live" so they are all shaky and terrible quality.
If you had a choice between these (He only knew 7 of them off hand) which 4 would you choose.

Victor IV
Victor VV-VI
Edison Triumph with horn
Columbia Q
Victrola XII
Amberola V
Edison Standard W/ Cygnet horn.

I don't know prices on the phonos but if it is anything close to the radio prices I will be very happy.
I wont know until next Wednesday but i will shoot some pics if he lets me.

Kirk

P.S. I WILL NOT SHARE HIS INFO. He was very clear on that when I asked if I could share in the group. Sorry... He is a little eccentric..

Depends on price and condition of course.

First, which ones do you actually want, i.e., which ones will fit best in your collection?

If your interests are broad, then buy the uncommon ones. (I.e., avoid the VV-VI or the Q as these show up all the time.)

I'd go for:

Victor IV
Edison Triumph with horn
Victrola XII
Edison Standard W/ Cygnet horn

If the condition of any of the above is less than desired, I place the Amberola V as a replacement. I'm assuming the Victor IV is not a Victrola IV.

Good luck, Jerry B.

All dependent upon condition of course, i would take them in this order, with the best two* out of the last three:

Victor IV
Victrola XII
Edison Triumph with horn*
Amberola V*
Edison Standard W/ Cygnet horn*

My collection is very broad. I only have about 6 or 7 Phonographs and nothing special.
I would love the Cygnet horn but I have a Standard machine already. I have an Amberola 30 too so do I need a V.

I would not be keeping all 4, Maybe 2 and then possibly sell the other 2 to defray the major spending on the 100 pieces.
I am surprised the IV is high on the list. It is kinda plain looking...

Condition on all is really good. He was a picky collector.

I am excited to see everything next week and I will post pics of what I pick up.

Thanks for the help...

OldRestorer wrote:
I am surprised the IV is high on the list. It is kinda plain looking...

Like someone already stated, the assumption is that this is a Victor IV outside horn machine as you said, and not a VV-IV. If it's a VV-IV then I would say skip it.

Andreas

Edison Triumph with horn
Columbia Q
Amberola V
Edison Standard W/ Cygnet horn

As stated, if the Victor IV is actually a horn machine, then YES... If it's a VICTROLA IV, then NO...

Any of these machines would be good for resale, if you decide not to keep them all...

IMHO there's nothing plain-looking about a Victor IV. It's a very elegant, modest-sized, classy machine, without being overstated.
I have one with the matching mahogany spear-tip horn.

I'd be curious as to which horn this one comes with, if any.
But if this is indeed the much more common internal-horn VV-IV tabletop machine, then I agree with your observation

Steven

With the additional info, I'll modify my recommendation:

- If the VI thing is the Victor VI (outside horn) and not Victrola VI (common, inside horn), keep it, especially if it has the wooden horn.

- Trade up from the Amberola 30 in favor of the V, which is way more sophisticated and interesting and quiet and attractive.

- Upgrade your Standard to the cygnet-ed example, if everything else is equal or better.

- Get the Triumph if you don't already have one, because they're powerful and smooth and almost turbine-like when running right.

- The XII is somewhat rare and somewhat special, but not really much fun to use or to look at, so it might be a good candidate for resale to defray costs.

I think this keeps you at the +2 machines goal while considerably upgrading your collection.

PeterF wrote:With the additional info, I'll modify my recommendation:

- If the VI thing is the Victor VI (outside horn) and not Victrola VI (common, inside horn), keep it, especially if it has the wooden horn.

- Trade up from the Amberola 30 in favor of the V, which is way more sophisticated and interesting and quiet and attractive.

- Upgrade your Standard to the cygnet-ed example, if everything else is equal or better.

- Get the Triumph if you don't already have one, because they're powerful and smooth and almost turbine-like when running right.

- The XII is somewhat rare and somewhat special, but not really much fun to use or to look at, so it might be a good candidate for resale to defray costs.


I think this keeps you at the +2 machines goal while considerably upgrading your collection.

That is sound advice--no pun intended!