The Talking Machine Forum — For All Antique Phonographs & Recordings

Hello All,
I have a VV-XI handed down from my wife's Granny that I restored with help from this forum some years back. Since then, I've been watching for a table-top model with a horn that I could restore. I got close only once; but that's another story. What I'm now wondering if it's still possible to find one for a modest price; or are they all gone? I could spend a few hundred on the machine, and budget the repairs over the time they took; but I'm not wealthy. So I'm just wondering if I'm chasing a pipe dream, and these things have all increased in value beyond my means. I have the various skills and tools to make most any sort of repairs, (cabinet, motor, etc.) assuming necessary parts are available. So please, be brutally honest. Am I wasting my time thinking I might still find and begin a project like this for a few hundred bucks?

Les Delinski

I've picked up a combination Edison fireside and a Victor I, and have paid less than $300 for each of the machines within the past couple years. These were both from auctions, either a local online (not ebay), or in person. I've also been at auctions where the phonographs bring their actual market value, it depends upon who is in the audience.