Victrola VV Xi-a

[NJ_Stephen]

Hi everyone,

I have found a Victrola VV Xi-a in awesome shape and was wondering what is the max I should pay for it?

What are these typically worth? I think the seller wants $795 which I think is high.

Thanks,
Stephen

[Jerry B.]

Hi Stephen, A good description or better yet a photo would really help. Mahogany is more common than oak and it's possible to have a special finish. Those things make a huge difference. I was in a local shop yesterday and saw a very nice dark oak XI with an asking price of $250. I thought that was a fair price and I called a friend that might be interested. I would think you could find a nice mahogany example in the $200 range. Jerry Blais

[Henry]

What Jerry said. If this is a run-of-the-mill mahogany, or even oak, piece, that asking price is way too high, IMO. My mahogany VV-XI (#370xxxG) was (and still is) in fantastic shape when I bought it in 1980 for $100. I would say $250-300 tops if it's really really great.

[NJ_Stephen]

Thanks Guys.

It's a mahogany. Here is the link, very close to me:

http://newjersey.craigslist.org/atq/3355854700.html

[brianu]

that looks like a decent example of an XI, but the price is at least twice what it should be - rather, at least twice the cost of what these typically sell for. why didn't you just buy one at that south jersey auction?

[OrthoSean]

Take a look at picture 6, with the closeup of the crank, you can see how much lighter the trim is on the upper part of the cabinet than the rest of it. Looks like a refinished cabinet.

And agreed with everyone else on the price, it's a $200 or so machine at best.

Sean

[Henry]

Hard to tell whether it's a refinish job without actually seeing it in person. Sometimes the lighting plays tricks. It does look to be in remarkably good shape, with nice, bright nickel plating. It's slightly later by about 90,000 units than my XI-G, and it's one of the earliest ones with the simplified scrolls at the top front corners. It also appears to have the "fat" tone arm, which would also have come with the no. 2 sound box instead of the Exhibition; again, it's hard to tell from the photos. FYI, the patent notice pictured is dated October 1917; mine is June 1917, just before the cabinet changes mentioned. Also the price has risen by $10, from $100 to $110. This one might be worth dickering over, but again I wouldn't go more than $300 absolute tops for this machine. This might be a hard one for the seller to swallow, but if you really want it, what the hey---give it a go!

P.S. The seller mentions "vinyl" records, which always raises eyebrows around here, especially since he pictures two albums that are obviously from the "shellac" era! Could be that he's not very knowledgeable?

[NJ_Stephen]

Thanks very much for the insight.

It looks like it is very good condition, but I haven't seen it in person yet.

What I really want is a VV XVII - I know those are harder to find and cost much more.

Stephen

[Henry]

Consulting the Data Book, I find the situation with the XI-A to be more involved than I knew. The earliest As still had the Exhibition sound box, upgraded to the no. 2 in 1919. For this one, then, the Exhib. would be correct. The first XI-A type M had serial 400551. This one is serial 426946. The last serial for the XI-A type M was 721381. Looks like the XI-A type M was the most widely produced version of the XI, with the XI type G the next.

Note: the whole series XI began in 1910 with the table-top XI type M, followed by the XI type A, then the conversion to the floor model in 1912 with XI type B, followed by C,D,E,F,G, and H. The XI-A began in Sept. 1917 with type designation M, followed by type B and type C. Production ended in 1921, with the highest known serial no. being 855702, by far the most popular model(s) produced by VTMCo. See Victor Data Book, pp. 125-129.

[FloridaClay]

The XIs are decent machines, but they don't bring much because they were a big seller made in huge numbers so there are still a lot of them out there. I would consider $795 to be about 3 times market.

Clay