The Talking Machine Forum — For All Antique Phonographs & Recordings

In the favorite Victor thread I mentioned my Victor III which I've had for over 50 years. The picture on my website was a scan of a snapshot I took in the late 1970s. That's the last time I ever photographed it.... I'm embarrassed to say that it's been in storage, for simple lack of space. But somehow or other I need to make some space. This deserves to be back out in the light of day.

I just dug it out to photograph properly. It desperately needs a thorough cleaning, polishing the nickel, and waxing the horn. Still, for not having been touched in a couple of decades, it looks so good that I fell in love with it all over again.

I dug out my old note cards. This was the 5th phonograph I ever bought: May 19, 1962, in Greenfield, MA. Cost: $8. Plus $1 for the aftermarket horn, acquired in December of that year.

Damn, what a sweet machine!

As Jackie Gleason would say, "How sweet it is!" IT is definitely a beauty. I love the horn. I was born 1 year later to the day when you bought the phonograph on May 19, 1963. I bought a Victor III earlier this year too, but yours takes the cake.Which type Victor III do you have?
Rick

Rene,

That is a beautiful Victor. I understand the passion that we all feel for our early purchases.

I have some models that I would never sell, even though they may not be the the most valuable items in my collection, I have a personal attachment to them that overrides any monitory value.

Thanks for sharing this.

That is a beautiful Victor, Rene. And Silvertone makes a point about how sentiment sometimes overrides other considerations. It turns out I have a Victor III in which sentiment plays a large part in why it's still here.

It was the fall of 1970, I was sixteen, and I had driven downtown to the Kiwanis antique show. There, in the diffused sunshine streaming through the block glass windows in the three-story walls of the National Guard Armory, I saw the most beautiful talking machine I'd seen in my three years of collecting. Unlike the Victrolas I had at home, this Victor had an external horn - - a new experience for me - - and it was made of oak! I had never heard of a wooden horn before.

I'd like to see a picture of my face as I stood there, dumb-struck by the magnificence of what I was seeing. The price was daunting; I believe $225. A virtual fortune to me. I attempted to negotiate a multiple-machine trade with the seller. He was very kind, but no doubt wishing I'd go read a comic book somewhere. I jumped back into my dad's Buick and raced home, hoping my credit was good and that dad would be in a very good mood. Alas, dad was out of town for the day, and mom did nothing financial in our family. Feeling pretty glum, I returned to the show, only to find that the oak Victor with its beautiful horn was gone.

As the years passed, I nurtured the glorious memory of that lost Victor, and with experience came to realize that it was probably a Victor III with a No.31 oak horn (commonly called a "speartip" among collectors today). I saw dozens of other Victors with oak horns, but always wondered what had become of that first one which continued to haunt me.

In 2001 - - thirty years after the event I have recounted - - a colleague at work asked, "Say, don't you collect those old Victrolas?" I answered that I did. "How much is one of those Victors worth with a wooden horn?" I smiled and politely answered that much depended on the model, and of course condition was also very important. He answered, "Oh it's in beautiful condition. I've owned it for thirty years!" Up to this point, I thought I was dealing with just another Victor with a wooden horn, but the timeframe suggested a long-shot. I asked where he had bought it, and he answered "At the Kiwanis antique show." I hadn't missed one of those shows during the late 1960s/early 1970s, so I knew there had been only one Victor with a wooden horn to pass through those doors thirty years before. It suddenly occurred to me that I was going to encounter once again the Victor that so astonished me many years before.

We negotiated a deal for the Victor III, a nearly-mint Victrola VIII, and a big box of records. It cost much more than Rene paid for his!

Below is how my "first" Victor III looked this morning. A couple of years after buying it, I added a Simplex Auto Start/Stop to the machine.

George P.
Barbie just commanded me to include a newspaper photo showing the floodwaters in the valley that were the result of Hurricane Agnes in 1972. The guy who bought the Victor III is on the left, removing household items in a canoe. You can see the wooden horn of the Victor III wrapped in a garbage bag! The machine was on the floor of the canoe, also in a garbage bag. Our machines have sometimes dodged bullets!

George P.

Great machine Rene. The after market horns just bring them over the top....I think.
George, your story is remarkable. I enjoyed reading it. Things always seem to come around when meant to be.

That is an amazing story, George! Serendipity, especially given that it was nearly lost to flooding 40 years ago.

Great Story George. I hope you will write this down and leave it in the Vic III for future owners to enjoy.

Both beautiful machines and great stories.

Thanks for sharing
Andreas

I was just admiring a Vic IV on ebay this morning with a beautiful red flowered horn and my thoughts must have been very similar to Goerges first encounter of the III that he saw at the Kiwanis show; utter love!

What wonderful stories you both have! Thank you for sharing.

Fran

Rene,
I absolutely LOVE your machine with that striking blue horn... I know you have many special machines, but this seems (to me at least) to be the absolute epitome of a Victor machine...

George,
Your machine is wonderful, as well, but what puts it over the top is the story that goes with it... I doubt that anyone could top that for a deja vu moment...