The Talking Machine Forum — For All Antique Phonographs & Recordings

At $150 with what looks like a big pile of records--it'd be worth redoing yourself to your own standards. Looks like a mighty nice Victrola c. 1914-1916? (Guessing)

I'm going to go against the grain here (pun intended) and say possibly no. When I blow up the pictures I see too many little scars from use, and, unless it's just a photographic anomaly, I'm seeing some possible alligatoring in spots as well.

I'm thinking the paneled backdrop may be influencing the color we see.

I'm in the camp of "At $150...

Re-finished.

If it you bothers you that much talk him to down to say $125. You cant go wrong, even at $150 IMO.

It's an XVI. Who Cares about refinishing--I paid $250 for mine, it was only a half-demolished XIV but was all I could get locally. (Didn't want to see it get shabby chick'd & always wanted a Victrola.)

Go for it--refinished or not, it LOOKS REALLY GOOD.

In my part of town, $150 for a Victrola XVI would be a steal. As a matter of fact, I paid exactly that much for mine...

My Victrola XVI, pictured below, showed up at a local (expensive) thrift store. I miraculously talked them down from $300 to $150. I had doubts about buying it, even then. The finish looked pretty much gone, it was missing the reproducer and winding hole escutcheon, one leg was cracked, the casters were off, it had some dings, and I wasn't even sure if it worked. After I got it home and cleaned it up, I discovered that there was decades of dirt and grime on the cabinet. After a lot of elbow grease and a generous application of Howard's Feed N Wax, well, this was the result. I also fixed the leg, put on a gold-plated reproducer and escutcheon, fixed the leg, and put a lot of money into getting it cleaned and repaired, etc. So I'm buried in it, but I love it.

Anyhow, I guess the moral of the story is that it's hard to tell about the finish from pictures, and perhaps even hard to tell when looking at an untouched machine in person.

Do I think that yours is worth buying? Probably. I'd say go have a look at it, and buy it if there are no huge issues, regardless of whether or not it was refinished. (Plus it's a XVI. It's not an XI. This machine was the Cadillac of Victors - it cost more than $150 when it was originally sold.)

Picture one is my XVI machine as I saw it sitting in the shop. Picture 2 is after cleaning and repairs...

If it needs just a little work - it looks good and I would go for it. The price seems reasonable. Tom