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I haven't seen a gold one before and wonder if they are unusual / rare ?

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/His-Masters- ... rk:15:pf:0

Relatively rare. Originally fitted to the earliest red leather De Luxe HMV102 portables. Superseded by the No.5A.

epigramophone wrote:Relatively rare. Originally fitted to the earliest red leather De Luxe HMV102 portables. Soon superseded by the No.5A.

Most interesting. Thank you epigramophone.

My HMV 158, a medium-sized re-entrant console, came with a No. 16 soundbox in a color that might be described as shoe-polish brown. It matches the tonearm. I've never been able to date that machine but assume the cheap 16 and crummy finish place it firmly in the depression era.

I've only seen the 158 in c. 1932/1934 catalogues, extracted by Barry Williamson in his book HMV Gramophone 1921 to 1936

That's it! Thanks very much for posting that.

It's interesting to note that one cannot use the HMV model numbers to assign date ranges to the machines. If this one was "The Latest" in '33/'34, it was quite a bit after the similar (except with larger horn) 163 of the late 1920s. Does this, or any other, book on HMV give info on how the model designations were arranged?

The 158 is a nice little performer but the cabinet is a bit too rough for it to be allowed in the house, so it's still in the garage.

(Here's a photo of one I just found on the interwebs.)

PeterF wrote:My HMV 158, a medium-sized re-entrant console, came with a No. 16 soundbox in a color that might be described as shoe-polish brown. It matches the tonearm. I've never been able to date that machine but assume the cheap 16 and crummy finish place it firmly in the depression era.

The #16 sound box, if in good condition, fitted to an HMV 158, can perform surprisingly well -- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LVjwUrAKZVs

Unfortunately, it can't be repaired, since all of the parts were press-fitted at the factory .

OrthoFan

Thanks for the YouTube link. Yes it does sound pretty good, although I sure wish the guy had closed lid whilst playing!

PeterF wrote:My HMV 158, a medium-sized re-entrant console, came with a No. 16 soundbox in a color that might be described as shoe-polish brown. It matches the tonearm. I've never been able to date that machine but assume the cheap 16 and crummy finish place it firmly in the depression era.

The Model 158 was catalogued from 1931 to 1933, and was the only cabinet machine to use the No.16 soundbox. The metal finish was known as Florentine Bronze.

By that time HMV were concentrating on radiograms, and the few remaining acoustic machines had cabinets which increasingly resembled radiograms. The 158 was replaced by the 153 pictured below, another example of illogical serial numbers, and many were exported to countries without a reliable mains electricity network. The 153 lasted until as late as 1939.

The 158 is not a 're-entrant' model (Re-entrant' horns divide into four sections). The 158 was the successor to the 157 (nothing illogical in that!)and has a similar bifurcated horn (i.e. two sections, not four). Both were cheaper than the 163, hence a lower model number. 'His Master's Gramophone', which I wrote with Brian Oakley in 2011, explains all the HMV acoustic model numbers and dates. The 153 number resulted from the simplification of the acoustic cabinets and table models to three, all with numbers in the 150s. The 153 number makes sense when you note that its smaller sibling was a 152, and the table version a 150.
Incidentally, the red leather 102 portable may always have had a gold No 16 soundbox; the No 16 was replaced by the 5a in 1934, and the red leather model probably remained on sale from that time only as long as there were remaining stocks, for which gold No 16 soundboxes already existed. There might have been some gold 5As still around (from Models 194 and 203, discontinued in 1933), so it would be interesting to hear from anyone with a leather 102 with a gold 5A soundbox!