Victrola Pooley VTLA Database

[Django]

The Victor Survival database now has a total of 210,000 entries (models, finishes and serial numbers of existent Victor and Victrola machines) that has been ongoing since the mid-1970's, and continues to receive about 30 submissions daily from my website and from visits to shows, auctions, etc. As of now, there are just over 150 Pooley survivors logged. The database does not yet have a public query access, but message me for more information. Details may be limited on some entries, but a lot of data is there.

Glad to share query results with anyone.

Paul Edie
www.victor-victrola.com

150+ survivors, (close to 10%). That’s pretty impressive. I guess that I was trying to find out when changes occurred and see what anomalies exist as well as finding out if the serial numbers were sequential and the highest and lowest.

Have there been many with a serial number below 501? Do you know when Victor changed the motor, the horn and discontinued the needle draw?

Thanks

[JerryVan]

There is a Pooley coming up in this weekend's Stanton auction. Maybe the new owner will report on it here.

[Ripduf1]

Serial number: 572
Motor: Bevel Gear
Horn: Small cast ring , wooden horn
Hidden Needle drawer: Yes
Lid Support: knee
Drawer: Tall with pull

[Django]

Serial number: 572
Motor: Bevel Gear
Horn: Small cast ring , wooden horn
Hidden Needle drawer: Yes
Lid Support: knee
Drawer: Tall with pull

Thank you for adding your nice, early VTLA.

I had incorrectly thought that the molding above my horn’s doors was the same as the front of the hidden drawer on the earlier Pooleys. I can see now that the drawer is the same shape as my later #844 but the drawer is only about half the height and has a straight piece above it. That straight piece also extends past the ends of the drawer, unlike the later, but still early VTLA.

The later Pooley VTLA lowered the horn opening, (probably when they chanced to the horn with the large casting). I think that it is interesting that they still kept the same shape molding, but stretched the height even further, (shown newest to oldest, #1864, #844 and #572).

[Ripduf1]

Here is an image of a really late Pooley Flat top 2068 that I had owned years ago. Note the are above the horn is now basically the same as the L door Coffin top about to be introduced back in 1908. Use of a standard key. That concludes the four variations of cabinets that I have owned over the years and that I am aware of. That represents many changes over the course of 18 months. I believe the Victor Company was trying to find a winning design which finally showed up with the coffin top VTLA.

-John

[Django]

Here is an image of a really late Pooley Flat top 2068 that I had owned years ago. Note the are above the horn is now basically the same as the L door Coffin top about to be introduced back in 1908. Use of a standard key. That concludes the four variations of cabinets that I have owned over the years and that I am aware of. That represents many changes over the course of 18 months. I believe the Victor Company was trying to find a winning design which finally showed up with the coffin top VTLA.

-John

That’s interesting. That very late Pooley VTLA appears to have the same upper piece that extends over the vertical partition just like the earliest version.

(844, 2068 and 572

[Django]

http://www.mulhollandpress.com/styled-2 ... index.html

I hadn’t seen this before. This brochure seems to explain Victor’s thinking regarding the first Victrola.

[Inigo]

Reading this brochure and watching the photos... one falls in love with the machine. Although if I ever had a Victrola, I would prefer the latter L-Door Xvi. In Spain this model was Gramophone style XXI, as seen in this photo of advert from an old record sleeve... Aparato marca Gramola Grande, Modelo no XXI... BTW, in the drawing it seems that there's no needle drawer over the horn. It's clearly drawn a flat wooden board.

16679983906668228176970923500823.jpg

I'd love to have one of these...

[Django]

I still hope that more machines will be added and I thank those that have contributed opinions, information and of course their machine’s attributes and serial number.

If you read the brochure that I added, you can get an idea of what Victor intended. It really wasn’t designed for us to appreciate. It was designed to appeal to the affluent customer of 1906, and I am glad that it did.

[Silvertone]

As was suggested by a previous poster, I contacted Paul Edie and received a file of his Pooley submissions. I have formatted the file for easier reading. I also edited the file to use the same nomenclature for the various features. I added the instruments mentioned in this thread but not from any previous threads, if any.

When Paul started gathering the data decades ago, he only recorded the serial number, but more recently he has recorded certain features of the instrument (in this case lid support style, etc.). The column marked "Verified" means that Paul either saw the instrument in person or saw good photographs of it in order to verify the features. If it does not indicate Verified, then it was a simple email submission to his website without pictures.

The mention of misalignment of the serial numbers means that the letters (V,T,L,A) were individual stamps and stamped sloppily one at a time (the same applies to the serial number). Later, Victor had a single stamp with all four letters and better holders for the serial number stamps.

One feature not recorded in this thread is the finish. You will note in the brochure that the instrument was available in either light or dark mahogany. I have personally only seen one example of the light finish, and have attached pictures. In person, it is strikingly different from the traditional Victrola mahogany finish.

I can update the document if there are more submissions or if an owner of the one of the instruments listed adds details.