I hope you all won't mind me jumping in again . . . we have decided to close the shop temporarily and go out on the road for a couple of months and do a few fairs, so I won't have access to the machines for a while. Here is another odd-ball, one-of-a-kind, and with celebrity provenance to boot!
Make: Victor
Model: VV-X
Serial # unknown
Year(s) Made: 1920?
Original Cost: unknown
Case/Cabinet Size: 49"T x 21"W x 23"D
Turntable/Mandrel: 12"
Reproducer/Sound-Box: Victrola No. 2
Motor: 2-spring
Horn Dimensions: internal
Reproduction Parts: none
Current Value: ? -- priceless to me
Interesting Facts: A Victrola X custom-cased in a cholla or saguaro cactus-veneer cabinet. Purchased from the estate of phonograph 'accumulator' Bud Whitten of Altadena, California in the mid-1980's. Bud purchased this machine at the estate auction of Tom Mix when Mix's getaway cabin in Sierra Madre, California and its contents were auctioned off in the early 1940's. Further research has revealed that the machine was probably custom built for Mix by Herb Wood, who had a shop on Hwy. 89A outside Florence, Arizona (near where Mix lived) where Wood built and sold cactus furniture and novelties. An article in the January 1946 'The Desert' magazine details Wood and his techniques which match the construction of this Victrola exactly. I keep my collection of cactus thorn needles and sharpeners displayed with this machine.
Favorite Characteristics: I am a 'desert rat' and love the fact that this machine combines two of my interests. When 'civilians' visit my collection, this is one they always remember. It is so weird and fugly . . . looks like it was at Hiroshima.
Attachment:
Cactus 01 500.jpg [ 193.95 KiB | Viewed 6316 times ]
Attachment:
Cactus 2 500.jpg [ 218.2 KiB | Viewed 6315 times ]
Attachment:
Cactus 6 500.jpg [ 207.6 KiB | Viewed 6315 times ]
Attachment:
Cactus 3 500.jpg [ 284.93 KiB | Viewed 6315 times ]
Attachment:
Cactus 4 500.jpg [ 288.78 KiB | Viewed 6310 times ]
Attachment:
021 Desert 01-46 frcov-1 72.jpg [ 432.53 KiB | Viewed 6066 times ]
Attachment:
022 Desert 01-46 pg23 72.jpg [ 357.65 KiB | Viewed 6062 times ]
Attachment:
024 Desert 01-46 pg24 72.jpg [ 310 KiB | Viewed 6059 times ]
"All of us have a place in history. Mine is clouds." Richard Brautigan