Brown HMV 102

[poodling around]

https://www.the-saleroom.com/en-gb/auct ... c5fa25eeae

Relatively rare maybe ?

[epigramophone]

Yes one of the less common colours, but not as rare as the Grey. I have both, but they took several years to find.

[poodling around]

Yes one of the less common colours, but not as rare as the Grey. I have both, but they took several years to find.

Very good.

Thank you epigramophone for confirming.

[Steve]

The problem, as always, with most UK auctioneers is that they expect the vast majority of the potential market interested to rely on one single photo which is often poorly lit and low resolution. I'm getting increasingly frustrated with auctioneers who then fail to respond to requests for more information or photos of lots I'm interested in. It has become what our American friends describe as a "Crap shoot" as to whether you even bother to bid and what to expect if you do win! This is all wrong, especially when in most instances, specialist items like gramophones rarely sell to the half dozen people sat in the auction rooms; it's the online marketplace where the bids are coming from.

Regarding this brown 102, for me at least on this increasingly rare occasion, I can verify its condition in person as the saleroom is less than 2 miles from me!

[Steve]

Missing its arm to trigger the auto brake so unless you have an early example spare a later one won't work as they are very different! It has the early brake mechanism which no one liked apparently.

The chrome fittings to carrying handle are rusted through.

The No. 16 soundbox is scrap as the stylus bar is loose and these pressed together soundboxes cannot be repaired.

The record tray is lost.

Case is quite scratched and dented on the set-down side and underneath.

For me this is a bit disappointing.

[Steve]

£90 plus commission for anyone interested which judging by this thread, isn't many of us!

[leels1]

£90 plus commission for anyone interested which judging by this thread, isn't many of us!

For £90 + commission it’d have been worth it. Could have fashioned an arm temporarily until an original came up (although might be waiting a while) and a 5A wouldn’t be out of place.

I’ve only ever seen a handful of brown ones. I had two, sold one probably 15 years ago…. For £90!

Unless you want “the set”, there are other more desirable colours it seems.

[Steve]

£90 plus commission for anyone interested which judging by this thread, isn't many of us!

For £90 + commission it’d have been worth it. Could have fashioned an arm temporarily until an original came up (although might be waiting a while) and a 5A wouldn’t be out of place.

I’ve only ever seen a handful of brown ones. I had two, sold one probably 15 years ago…. For £90!

Unless you want “the set”, there are other more desirable colours it seems.

I don't think the colour was an issue today; the lack of definitive condition description or decent photos from the auctioneers is the issue. Aside from what I reported here, no one would have had a clue as to what to expect and that feeds into low expectations and prices, typical of lazy auctioneers.

I was tempted, as the shipping would have been zero cost but whatever way I looked at it, I just couldn't make sense of it over £100. There would have been a lot of "robbing Peter to pay Paul" and it doesn't make sense to me.

[leels1]

Hopefully it gets a new lease of life by someone none the less.

[Steve]

I doubt we'll see it again!