The Talking Machine Forum — For All Antique Phonographs & Recordings

I picked up a really nice HMV 101 portable yesterday.
Except for a few scuffmarks on the leatherette cover, it's really, really nice.
Got it cheap aswell. *nuff with the braggin'

Under the turntable was a small white sticker, stating "february 1944".

It looks just like the pictures of late 20s 101 I've seen on the web.

I know I have read that portables were made well into the 50s, for export to poorer countries,
where electricity wasn't available.

Could this sticker tell the truth?
And if so, was this machine made with the intention to export it (maybe it was exported & someone brought it back?) Or were they selling wind-up portables in the 40s in Europe?

The sticker could be right, but not for a 101. They stopped making/selling the 101 in about 1931 I think.
It's more likely you have a 88, 97 or 102. I don't have a 102 to show, but there are 1 or 2 on this forum I think.
The 101 was first made in 1925, and had the crank at the front, then in 1927 it was moved to the side.
the other models listed above where made well after 1931, and the 102 was being sold/produced until 1960. Normally the machine will have an ID tag under the turntable if it was made after 1936.

My machine looks exactly like the one 101 you post. Crank on the side & all. It has the no.4 S/B
No ID-tag. So, maybe someone, sometime decided to make a prank of sorts. Puzzling huh?

The man I bought it from got it in the early seventies & has never done anything except play records on it.
And that is most probably true. The springbarrel was full of what looked like chocolate chips. The grease was totally solid
Amazing how these machines can continue to function, without any service done in 70-80 years.

Could the sticker on the bottom be a service record? Or perhaps resale date? Cool machine!
Martin

I was wondering the same thing. It might have been serviced or had a new spring or something, and the repairman has recorded the date of the repair. It was pretty common for clocks & watches to have service dates scratched on the works.
Out of curiosity, is the date hand written, stamped or printed on the sticker?

A few pictures are worth a few thousand words!

A service sticker, of course! Sounds very resonable!
Both a sticker & some numbers scratched in the wood.
Look for your selfs: Here is the machine ( no spindle, since to motor is currently in a bath of naphta) (And the soundbox is being re-built) And here is a shot at the intestines.
The white square is actually the oiling-scheme, the flash removed the text completely. A very common machine over here & I can clearly see why,
it is very light, easy to carry & sounds remarkably well, both with acoustic & early electrics. It even handles big band records from the 40s with out making it too painful to the ear!

That service sticker is great. I've never seen one like it on a machine, nor the grafetti on the wood finish It sort of makes what is a common machine that little bit more interesting.
I think you'll be happy with the sound quality once the soundbox is reconditioned. You can play just about anything with a good no.4.

gramophoneshane wrote:That service sticker is great. I've never seen one like it on a machine, nor the grafetti on the wood finish It sort of makes what is a common machine that little bit more interesting.
I think you'll be happy with the sound quality once the soundbox is reconditioned. You can play just about anything with a good no.4.

Like you say, it sure adds some personality to the machine!

I went over the soundbox last night.

To my great surprise I found a spider inside, complete with a web, the size of a pinky toenail between the mica & the back bezel .
It was very tiny, very dead, not more then a dot, I had to pull out my magnifying glass to see it.
So no pictures to prove it I'm afraid. My camera couldn't get it properly. To small.

That proves that it isn't air-tight & in need of a rebuild.
Talk about futile effort - crawl into a soundbox, build a web & wait for the pray to come....
Hope he had some good music to vibrate to meanwhile

Anyway, with new Exhibition style gaskets & some oil on the needle bar pivot & spider removed, it sounds great!
Very, very good to my ears. Handles just about every genre with style.
Now I'll just have to order a replacement back rubber flange & I'm all set.

If that is what it is, its even cooler.
Someone pawned this machine, to get some money for food, after they'd drank their whole salary away.