What Model is This Victrola Portable?

[OrthoFan]

I finally spotted the Craigslist ad LaCal referred to: https://vancouver.craigslist.org/rch/cl ... 77648.html

The seller has no clue about its age, though a few minutes doing an internet search would give him an accurate date range. Price-wise -- $250.00 -- unfortunately, that seems to be the norm for the asking price for most portables I've seen listed on Craigslist lately. Based on what I see in the photos, it's not exactly in mint condition.

OrthoFan

[Lah Ca]

I finally spotted the Craigslist ad LaCal referred to: https://vancouver.craigslist.org/rch/cl ... 77648.html

You could have just asked and saved yourself a lot of time.

The seller has no clue about its age, though a few minutes doing an internet search would give him an accurate date range. Price-wise -- $250.00 -- unfortunately, that seems to be the norm for the asking price for most portables I've seen listed on Craigslist lately. Based on what I see in the photos, it's not exactly in mint condition.

I contacted the seller to ask for more information. The seller never replied.

The suburb of Vancouver where the machine is located, Richmond, had a very large and mostly well-to-do Japanese population before WWII. With the war they were stripped of their possessions and businesses, pretty much everything taken except the clothes on their back. The were rounded up and sent to concentration camps in the interior of BC and in Alberta. There was a lot of corruption involved in the seizing and sale of their possessions. They were never compensated. Many of them were second and third generation Canadians, Canadian citizens. In the camps, they often lived in hastily constructed shacks with newspaper stuck on the walls to keep the winter winds out. They often were more or less forced into agricultural labour with little or no pay. Some young men signed up for military service with the Canadian armed forces and were sent to Europe.

There was some Yamato Race whackadoodlism in the community before the war, not wide spread or even condoned, so the Canadian Government had some legitimate concerns about spying and subversion, but they went over the top in the brutality of their dealing with those concerns.

So the portable could have been in a Japanese family in Richmond in the inter-war years, although it seems not to have the Japanese ID plate. The antique shops, junk stores, and thrift stores used have a lot of old Japanese stuff at one time. People still find non-perishable possessions buried, hidden away from seizure, things like china and porcelain--the owners never got back for it.

[Lah Ca]

Well it is not a J2-12, just a 2-12.

The seller finally replied to my email.

[OrthoFan]

Well it is not a J2-12, just a 2-12.

The seller finally replied to my email.

Screenshot from 2024-07-29 20-46-41.png

There's virtually nothing online about it, except this -- viewtopic.php?t=28278 and that one was equipped with a conventional Orthophonic sound box, according to the poster. It does match the Japanese version...???

OrthoFan

[Lah Ca]

@OrthoFan

Are you interested in the machine? The $250 price is in Canadian dollars, which at today's exchange rate is about $180.47 US.

I go into Richmond with some frequency and might be able to check it out, test it, and provide better photos.

[OrthoFan]

@OrthoFan

Are you interested in the machine? The $250 price is in Canadian dollars, which at today's exchange rate is about $180.47 US.

I go into Richmond with some frequency and might be able to check it out, test it, and provide better photos.

Not at this time. I'm in the process of "paying off." I do want to acquire another portable at some point, but I have my heart set on a conventional VV-2-65 or a nice 2-55 (in restored, ready to play condition, of course ), but it probably won't be this year. Many thanks for offering though.

OrthoFan

[Lah Ca]

@OrthoFan

Are you interested in the machine? The $250 price is in Canadian dollars, which at today's exchange rate is about $180.47 US.

I go into Richmond with some frequency and might be able to check it out, test it, and provide better photos.

Not at this time. I'm in the process of "paying off." I do want to acquire another portable at some point, but I have my heart set on a conventional VV-2-65 or a nice 2-55 (in restored, ready to play condition, of course ), but it probably won't be this year. Many thanks for offering though.

OrthoFan

Hey, think of the envy-inducing glory.

I bet nobody else here has the rare and highly sought after Victrola 2-12 toilet seat model.