Original owners and first location of machines.

[Uncle Vanya]

neither machine survives unfortunately.

more victims of the fire?

Wasn't there 2 seperate fires, a couple years apart?

Twenty. Years apart, that is. The most recent was by far the more devastating for me perhaps because I was younger back then, and was busy fooling around with many things other than talking machines.

[Skihawx]

I know of one handsome machine it its original location. The Asa Packer Mansion in Jim Thorpe Pa. has a VV XX.

Wow a beautiful XX!!!! Love that setting. The James Witcomb Riley house in Indianapolis has all it's
original furnishings. He inherited the house from the friends he was living with and he left it to his house keeper in 1922. The owned a Mahogany L door VV-XVI. This house is rated one of the best preservation museums because so much was original to the 1880's to early 1900's.

[Skihawx]

regarding the johnston house machine... I'd guess a XVII or 130.

Nope much better than a VV-XVII or a VV-130!! Pictures coming this weekend...

Just like movie trailer... Coming soon!!!

[Wolfe]

That was a posh mansion indeed!

Undoubtedly one of the original 1 %. Except in his case he may have well deserved it.

[estott]

That was a posh mansion indeed!

Undoubtedly one of the original 1 %. Except in his case he may have well deserved it.

He did. Packer was very much a self made man, in the best sense of the term. He worked his way up as a builder of canal boats and canal locks, but had the forethought to invest in the new Railroad technology. He became immensely wealthy but was never one for vulgar display- the mansion, opulent as it was, was a family home and not a center for lavish entertaining. He put a lot of money into the town of Mauch Chunk (Jim Thorpe) though he was a bit of a benevolent despot. He endowed what is presently Lehigh University.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Asa_Packer

[Wolfe]

That was a posh mansion indeed!

Undoubtedly one of the original 1 %. Except in his case he may have well deserved it.

He did. Packer was very much a self made man, in the best sense of the term. He worked his way up as a builder of canal boats and canal locks, but had the forethought to invest in the new Railroad technology. He became immensely wealthy but was never one for vulgar display- the mansion, opulent as it was, was a family home and not a center for lavish entertaining. He put a lot of money into the town of Mauch Chunk (Jim Thorpe) though he was a bit of a benevolent despot. He endowed what is presently Lehigh University.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Asa_Packer

Sorry, thought the post I quoted referred to Eldridge Johnson.

But that Packer guy sounds real swell too.

[Valecnik]

I apologize for straying off-topic to the subject of phonographs, but there is a historic mansion here in Louisville -- the Brennan House -- that was in the same family from 1884 to 1969 (although the house dates to 1868). The house was given to a preservation group in toto when the last family member died. I have attached photos of my wife, Lauri, who is 5'8", standing in front of the most massive and elaborate Renaissance Revival bed and dresser I have ever seen that is located in the master bedroom of the Brennan House. There is a similarly massive hall tree in the entrance hall by the same manufacturer. If you are ever in Louisville, give them a call and they will happily take you through the home. There aren't any phonographs or music boxes in the home, however.

http://thebrennanhouse.org

John, no apologies required for going off topic. What a great house. These types of places are always on my "to do" list when I visit a city. Great thread.

[Henry]

That was a posh mansion indeed!

It is! Pretty much everything you see there is in its original state, or very close. After the last family member passed it was locked up for 40 years until it was opened to the public. It's worth a visit- and the area is spectacular- the "Switzerland of Pennsylvania"

Packer himself never saw "his" VV-XX; he died in 1879. While his mansion had luxurious features (indoor plumbing, for example, and conditioned air from nearby underground excavations, to name two), IMO it could scarcely be called "posh," compared with some of America's wealthiest (Vanderbilt, Rockefeller, et al.). His fortune was made by investing in railroads, chiefly the Lehigh Valley Railroad which he founded, and over which millions of tons of anthracite coal from its mines in the region moved to markets all over the east for domestic heating. The mansion in Mauch Chunk ("sleeping bear," after a mountain formation close by) ultimately passed to his daughter; upon her death (IIRC, 1912), ownership passed to the Borough of Mauch Chunk, and it was closed to the public for many years. It opened as a house museum in 1956, virtually untouched since 1912. See http://tinyurl.com/865ghyr. In addition to the Victrola, there is a very rare and valuable Swiss-made Orchestrion in the upstairs hall; the only one like it that I have seen is in the Smithsonian.

Mauch Chunk is present-day Jim Thorpe, PA. The whole business of how that came about is way off topic here, but "you could look it up."

[Valecnik]

Well Henry it may not be as "posh" as the Vanderbilt's but I'd certainly not mind living there as opposed to Graceland or Neverland, or whatever MJ called his place...

[Henry]

Welcome to it; I'm sure the Borough would love for you to pay the heating bills and upkeep!