HMV 101, red gilt

[nostalgia]

I could not resist this one, since I have never seen one for sale before in my area.
Unfortunately the sound box is lost, but I chose anyway to buy it, even if finding the gilt no 4 soundbox will be like looking for the needle in the haystack.
I upload some photos, since we have lost so many photos on the forum.
The covering is leather and not leatherette, right? Would shoe cream be an option to preserve the leather? I will not apply Swarfega on this one, I am sure it will destroy the leather..

The winding handle is found, according to the seller, even if I have not yet seen neither the gramophone, nor the handle.

[Inigo]

And it has an electric pickup!

[nostalgia]

I have already given away the electric pickup to the collector who helped me find this gramophone, before I have even collected the gramophone...

[epigramophone]

The covering is leather and not leatherette, right? Would shoe cream be an option to preserve the leather? I will not apply Swarfega on this one, I am sure it will destroy the leather..

The leather used on the De Luxe 101 and 102 portables is paper thin, nowhere near as robust as leatherette.
The exterior of most surviving examples has faded badly and shows considerable signs of wear.
After gentle cleaning, my Red Leather 102 responded well to shoe cream. I used a car upholstery cleaner suitable for leather.

[nostalgia]

Thank you Roger, great information ! I for sure don't want to experiment with the exterior of this machine.
Do you remember what brand of leather upholstery cleaner you used for cleaning the leather?
If you remember, I will simply order it online, and avoid to experiment with other brands or products.

Your machine, by the way, looks great

[Steve]

I don't know if this is common knowledge or practice but I found to resurrect the red pigment all you need to do is gently remove the lacquer or sealing agent on the surface. Once I'd removed that the darkness of the red dye reappeared almost magically. I used a gentle abrasive soluble in water with a cloth. It dried a little patchy but I hardly needed any red shoe cream to bring it back to life. UV damages the pigment at the surface which is sealed into the leather. Rub through that layer and you might be surprised how dark the leather becomes without the need for additional dyes.

Roger is basically correct; the leather is quite thin but with that said I gave my 101 a real battering with the rubbing compound and it held up very well. It's tougher than you might think. I'd also soak the leather after cleaning it rigorously, with a leather care cream like AutoGlyn used on car leather seats. This replenishes the essential oils which have been lost. Leave it for at least a week before applying waxes or shoe colouring cream over the surface though.

I had to do this on my deluxe 101 as some clown had painted it red and I had to remove the paint first! Luckily my deluxe 102 is in pristine original condition. It still has its receipt and a clip for the key and instructions for using it!

[nostalgia]

Steve, please share the brand/product name of the abrasive you used, since it worked well for you.
Living in Scandinavia, we may or may not have the product you used, but I will then order it online.

I have to date used Swarfega on the HMV leatherette portables, but it has a strong tendency to remove the color from the covering, particularly on colored leatherette, so I am now avoiding using it on colored leatherette. Columbia portables, also colored ones, seem to be of a different nature or qualiity and Swarfega does not remove the coloring when cleaning the dirt from these portables.

[Steve]

Steve, please share the brand/product name of the abrasive you used, since it worked well for you.
Living in Scandinavia, we may or may not have the product you used, but I will then order it online.

I have to date used Swarfega on the HMV leatherette portables, but it has a strong tendency to remove the color from the covering, particularly on colored leatherette, so I am now avoiding using it on colored leatherette. Columbia portables, also colored ones, seem to be of a different nature or qualiity and Swarfega does not remove the coloring when cleaning the dirt from these portables.

Testing my memory here as it was 20 years ago now but I think it was Chemico - aka "The Pink Stuff". I've certainly used it more recently on rexine cases and it lifts the dirt right out making them look almost new. With rexine I use it with a soft toothbrush and water to agitate the ingrained dirt. It's a long painstaking process but I just keep repeating the attempts until the toothbrush hairs are no longer turning grey / brown. Between each go I rinse and wipe with a damp cloth.

[nostalgia]

Thank you, Steve, much appreciated information. I will see if I can find an online retailer who can ship this product abroad.

[leels1]

The 102 deluxe I got was so far gone a paint job was the only option. It was only worth saving as the interior metal work was so good still. Here’s a pic