Gold Standard HMV 101

[CarlosV]

The seller took the liberty to gild all fittings, recover its box and is selling for a very reasonable price - a real bargain - for such unique jewel:
https://www.ebay.de/itm/255757240859?ha ... R9SdrML0YA

[PeterF]

That really is quite pretty. But were there ever green ones with original gold plated hardware from the factory? I have a red one with gold plating but wish to learn more.

[Phono48]

That really is quite pretty. But were there ever green ones with original gold plated hardware from the factory? I have a red one with gold plating but wish to learn more.

No, there weren't any green ones with gold fittings, especially with that quality of plating. Even the plating on the red 101s was of very poor, thin quality. In spite all that has been done to this one, though, it is very attractive, and at half the price asked I may have been tempted, just for the curiosity value!

Barry

[nostalgia]

Has it been repainted? That green color does not at all look like my green 101...

[Orchorsol]

Looking closely, I'm pretty sure it has been re-covered, and with many small imperfections.

[Steve]

This is nothing new. This seller has "restored" dozens of 101s and 102s, often with uniquely re-covered cases and uniquely replated hardware. Some are exceptionally well done, others, more obviously refurbished with glaring telltale signs of their unorthodox modifications.

In my opinion they aren't worth anywhere close to the asking price. I'd rather stick to an original portable machine or better still, buy a rare original horn gramophone for that money. I think they're over-priced at much above 500 Euros. They're certainly a novelty but I'm not sure there is much of a market for them at the asking price.

[epigramophone]

That really is quite pretty. But were there ever green ones with original gold plated hardware from the factory? I have a red one with gold plating but wish to learn more.

Red leather was the only version catalogued with gold plated fittings, but a solitary example in Brown leather with gold plated fittings was made for the Oxford Street HMV shop where it was used in a window display. It is pictured on Page 30 of "The Perfect Portable Gramophone" by Dave Cooper.

[Oedipus]

As I have pointed out before, the brown 'leather' 101 shown in Dave Cooper's book subsequently turned out, on inspection, not to be leather, but leathercloth, with 'antique' graining. The same material was used on some standard brown models (see HMG page 201). However, in November 2021 in a sale at Special Auction Services, there was a genuine leather-covered 101 that broke all the rules; the leather, very thin, was very dark red (Claret, I suppose you might call it), the external fittings were black nickel and the internal fittings bright nickel. The turntable and horn mouth were blue -- presumably, for this one-off, it was not considered worthwhile to find some matching claret-coloured felt or paint! When I first saw it, I thought it had been got at, but the more I studied it, the more convinced I became that it had left Hayes in that form.

So one-offs are known, which might have been prototypes never put into production, or special orders for a director or a favoured customer. I heard tell once of a blue one with gold fittings in a shop near me, but it had gone when I got there, and I do not know how reliable the information was.

[Phono48]

Years ago, at an antiques fair at Alexandra Palace, I saw a 102 in vivid pink, with bright gold fittings, and was told it was a one-off, made for Barbara Cartland. Whether or not this was true, I don't know, and probably never will. All I do know is that it was absolutely stunning, but way out of my price range at that time!

Barry

[epigramophone]

Years ago, at an antiques fair at Alexandra Palace, I saw a 102 in vivid pink, with bright gold fittings, and was told it was a one-off, made for Barbara Cartland. Whether or not this was true, I don't know, and probably never will. All I do know is that it was absolutely stunning, but way out of my price range at that time!

Barry

I once heard that a small batch of pink 102's was made for a group of young "society" women, who Barbara Cartland organised into a team to go motor racing at Brooklands in 1931. Like you I have no idea whether the story is true.

Soon after I discovered eBay in 2008 I saw a pale green 102 which sold for over £300. I wish I had kept pictures of it.