The Talking Machine Forum — For All Antique Phonographs & Recordings

So came across this machine. Guessing its one of the many off-brand companies that operated in the 20s. Thought would post snaps as a reference in case anyone was interested in a Kimberley!

Interesting Victrola clone, kinda like the VV-111 and similar post-Roman numeral successors. Wonder what's up with the two holes next to the builder's plate? Where did you find this one? And how does it sound?

The two holes probably held needle pots.
What intrigues me is the tonearm, which is of later design than the rest of the machine.

It probably originally had one of Heinemans tonearms.

Spoonman, is the machine actually in your possession? What can you tell us about the sound box? As noted by epigramophone, the tone arm seems to be a later design; I'd add, not unlike an Orthophonic. But clearly the "horn" is not!

The tip out record storage bins are nice...

Henry wrote:Interesting Victrola clone, kinda like the VV-111 and similar post-Roman numeral successors. Wonder what's up with the two holes next to the builder's plate? Where did you find this one? And how does it sound?

Henry, this was located in the back-streets of the old city in Hyderabad, India. I only have the snaps. The seller wasn't somebody I know or done business with so he sent me the snaps and an asking price of 6000$. After I laughed long and hard, he seems to be willing to settle for 600$ But I wont be picking it up. Happy to provide contacts to anybody who wants it (and is willing to ship it from India!)

Kind of odd to find a machine like that in India. It's usually the British makes that turn up there. Asking $6k but will take $600?? I hate to say it, but if you hadn't seen it in person, it sounds like a scam to me.

The cabinet is eerily similar to the VV-111, to the point I wondered if it might have been made from a surplus Victor cabinet. The carvings on the edges look a little different, though, and the lid looks like it has a slightly higher profile. The tone arm looks mid-'20s, though from the pictures the reproducer doesn't look like an Orthophonic knock-off. It's likely one of the generic pot metal reproducers of the era.

I'd put this one at about 1924-25 from the tone arm style. By that time, this cabinet style would have been seen as yesterday's news, which might explain why it was exported.

I found this link for another Kimberly phonograph. These appear to have very similar cabinets to the Victor machine and both have the generic ortho type arm.

https://youtu.be/p98P_DKarF8

Victrolacollector wrote:I found this link for another Kimberly phonograph. These appear to have very similar cabinets to the Victor machine and both have the generic ortho type arm.

https://youtu.be/p98P_DKarF8

The one in the YouTube video looks more like a pre-Ultona arm to me, instead of an ortho type.

It's neat to think how this obscure off-brand ended up all the way over there.