The Talking Machine Forum — For All Antique Phonographs & Recordings

An HMV 194 is up for grabs at Bearnes Hampton & Littlewood of Exeter during their 3 day antiques auction starting 29th April through to 1st May.

This machine is complete and appears to be working apart from one slight issue: the lower part of the legs and the H stretcher has been cut off! The cabinet, apart from being about 6" too short, is also very tired and tatty needing a complete refinish. So a machine for someone who buys tatty legless cabinet machines, perhaps? Any takers?

As usual the auctioneers were pretty clueless. I've told them whatever they now claim to know about this machine.

Someone out there will have an empty 194 cabinet in good condition, just waiting for the right "works" to fit.

Someone out there will have an empty 194 cabinet in good condition, just waiting for the right "works" to fit

Indeed! Sadly, it isn't me. I did think just that. Mind you, it needs to be the same cabinet for an oil-bath motor. I wonder what it will go for? A few years ago a horn for a 193/4 made over £1500 alone. With good condition gold-plated hardware, the correct horn and the oil-bath motor, surely this must be worth between £500 and £1000. That might sound a lot but a dealer was offering up to £150 just for the motor a few years ago (and no one thought that was especially generous either!).

Well it sold for £950 plus commission so that's too much for a broken cabinet gramophone museum to pay. My guess is that it has been bought privately by a collector with a beautiful original 194 empty cabinet stuck at the back of his garage. It's been sat there for the past 22 years. His wife probably won't be too pleased as that now means that it will be promoted to join all the other unwelcome cabinet machines in the living room!