The Talking Machine Forum — For All Antique Phonographs & Recordings

I assume that this is a lacquer finished cabinet. How do you go about "bringing up" this kind of finish to look this good. Sean, are you able to share your secrets?
S-B-H

Kirkwood wrote:Here's a question for the collectors amongst us: when you get a machine that's estate-fresh, like Sean's here---do you keep the paperwork goodies with it, or sell them off or display them elsewhere?

I've usually kept the paperwork ephemera with the machines they came with, unless it was completely unrelated. Monthly record booklets or catalogs go in the file or on display. However, bills of sale, record indexes, or instruction manuals always stay with the machines. If I'm keeping the machine, I'll even keep unrelated envelopes or postcards with it, since the owner's name and address is there.

I once found in a Victrola - and still have - an unopened letter from the IRS (if memory serves me) dated from the 1940s or 1950s. I can't bring myself to open it...

George P.

What a great looking Orthophonic! It really turned out beautiful. Wish I had the room for some of the larger phonographs...maybe someday!

When I get a machine with all the "extras" like this, I keep it all together. Although the record albums themselves are fragile, the records that were in them will stay in a place for the most part on their own. All I did was clean the cabinet with GoJo and give it a few coats of wax after. I still have to detail it a bit more, but we're looking good so far!!


And Mark, I'll let you know about the reproducer, but I'm betting it cranks!

Thanks guys!!

Sean

Very nice machine. Thank you for showing!

It is unfortunate that we can not add featured phonographs to the "featured phonographs" topic in the Archives section because the thread is locked.

Great looking machine Sean, and it's in wonderful condition. I've always thought the breakfront cabinet of this model was very attractive. The mix of Georgian & mid Victorian styling works well together in this case.
I'm must say I'm very surprised that these are such a small machine. I always imagined them to be much larger, but it's only the size of a Rexonola 60, only being 7" wider. The horn cant be too much bigger than what's in your 163- maybe closer to a 193/4?
All those extras were a good score too.
You mentioned getting a pile of German Victors with the machine. Just curious, but are Victor foreign language pressings relatively hard to find?

Hey Shane,

It's a bigger horn than the 163, I'm not sure how much bigger, but these have a really nice "sound of their own" as pointed out by George P. It can easily fill my living room and dining room with music.

As far as foreign language discs, I come across them a lot. This area had a very large German population in the teens and 20s. To find just so many contemporary ones all in one place is a little unusual from my experience. I especially like the yodeling records!

Sean

It's gorgeous. You can't know how much I want one of those machines. As the swan song of the full size Victrola they certainly went out in a blaze of glory. I prefer the American model to the Canadian one.

Jim

OrthoSean wrote:When I get a machine with all the "extras" like this, I keep it all together. Although the record albums themselves are fragile, the records that were in them will stay in a place for the most part on their own. All I did was clean the cabinet with GoJo and give it a few coats of wax after. I still have to detail it a bit more, but we're looking good so far!!

Nice 8-35. I wondered where it was going. I usually like to keep the records and paperwork
with the machine if they are from the correct time period. But the last few orthophonic machines
I've aquired have had terrible records!!!