Gramophone "his master voice"

[epigramophone]

I doubt it. The autobrake and speed controls are in English. Only the lid transfer is in French.

[Sherazhyder]

As Steve has said, the value of a portable depends on the exterior condition rather than details of specification - though one important factor is the colour, and the fact that this is blue makes it more desirable than a standard black one. Prices are down at present, but they are widely variable and I could see this one making around £100 at auction. It can be dated fairly closely by the fact that it has a wood (rather than metal) motor board, so not before 1933, and a No 16 sound box (replaced in the summer of 1934 by the 5A).

The metal plate with the model number is, as has been said, often found on Export 102s of the early 1930s (it was standard for a time on all HMV models around 1929-30). But what no one has remarked on is that it is the wrong label! The letter R at the beginning of the number stands for Red, not blue, for which the code was LB (= Light Blue). So you have a nice 102 with a factory error -- but that is unlikely to affect its value!

Sir ! I think the needle container is another dating post. The 102B had the one in metal but from the 102C it started coming in plastic.
Your mentioning of metal boards and wooden board reminds me of a question, which is still unanswered. Why HMV never thought of making the bottom board of the gramophone case removable (by unscrewing it) for ease of cleaning and oiling? It is always a hassle to remove the motor board for periodic maintenance. Over the years, this screwing and unscrewing drill leaves imprints on the leather skin.

Regards
Sheraz

[epigramophone]

The earliest 102's had a metal motor board from which the motor could easily be removed for maintenance.
For reasons best known to themselves, HMV replaced this sensible layout with a wooden motor board which needed to be completely removed to gain access to the motor.

[Sherazhyder]

The earliest 102's had a metal motor board from which the motor could easily be removed for maintenance.
For reasons best known to themselves, HMV replaced this sensible layout with a wooden motor board which needed to be completely removed to gain access to the motor.

Hi ! Thanks for sharing the picture. The idea of a machine bay in the middle of a metal board was wonderful. I am thinking that using a die to cut a metal sheet for a creating a central bay would have been easier as compared to cutting a wood sheet through chiseller. Thus the machine bay design was abandoned.

Regards
Sheraz Hyder