HMV 163 Gramophone in California Facebook MarketPlace

[Steve]

HMV 163 Oak Gramophone is in California Facebook Marketplace. Wha do you think of it?

Now it is $675.00. Somebody should get this.

It probably won't sell until the price falls below $300.

[Garret]

Who knows? It would cost more to ship from England at that price!

Garret

[Steve]

Who knows? It would cost more to ship from England at that price!

Garret

I completely understand your point, but unless an American collector is especially hungry for a 163, who's going to lay down the cash for a less than good example? Similar to the way most British collectors ignore the odd stray Victors that appear very infrequently on these shores, a lot of US collectors just aren't interested enough to consider an HMV machine that is no better than the best Orthophonic model Victrola's. Now if it was a 19 or 20 series machine, that would be very different.

[CarlosV]

I completely understand your point, but unless an American collector is especially hungry for a 163, who's going to lay down the cash for a less than good example? Similar to the way most British collectors ignore the odd stray Victors that appear very infrequently on these shores, a lot of US collectors just aren't interested enough to consider an HMV machine that is no better than the best Orthophonic model Victrola's. Now if it was a 19 or 20 series machine, that would be very different.

Yes, Steve, you are correct. Years ago I bought a nice colonial HMV 32 for cheap, sold in the US. The total I paid including shipment and customs was still significantly lower than the then going price in the UK. Conversely. I bought a very nice US-made Pathé Actuelle sold in the UK that could not find buyers. At the time the UK was still in the EU, so I had only to pay for a van driver to bring it to my home, where it still resides. There is a geographic bias that permeates the gramophone collectors, in my estimation driven mostly by the dominance of specific brands in each country or region.