The Talking Machine Forum — For All Antique Phonographs & Recordings

So yesterday I was looking over the Facebook Market yard sale page in my area of N.W. New Jersey when I found a "too good to be true" ad. Someone was selling 2 Victrolas only 45 minutes from my house for $50.00. No photos but the seller stated they were in as found rough condition and they included all the original Victor albums full of 78 records and a Victor log book, plus a big box full of spare parts. Spare parts? What? So under protest my wife went along with me to East Hanover N.J. where we found a big warehouse full of estate sale furniture and a lot of junk. It was run by two ladies who did estate sales for a living. What they had was a very beat up but complete mahogony VV-50 portable and a very rough Victor Hump-Back VV-240 with a late 1940's electric turntable and speakers installed inside. Ouch. The VV-240 had all it's original and like-new albums still behind the doors. The spare parts were all the original parts the VV-240 came with - motor board, tone arm, turntable, 2 #2 reproducers, long crank, etc. The VV-240 cabinet was rough but the parts looked like they were in great condition. Now the VV-50 cabinet looks like it was half eaten by mice or some type of vermon, beyond repair BUT the inside was like new and the darn thing played perfectly when I got it back home. (although my wife would not allow it into the house as she was afraid there were mice or something living inside haha) I made the ladies a deal and bought everything for $35.00 but told her to toss the VV-240 in the dumpster after I removed all the albums, knobs, and the data plate. The two larger albums were filled with crappy records but the albums are in mint condition with the pull rings intact - the two smaller albums? Now that is a totally different story. One was filled with the usual crappy records BUT other small album was filled with a very pleasant suprise. You will see that suprise when you take a look at my photos. A great day indeed !!

'S'Rats mice don't have teeth that size

If I was you I'd go back to the two old dears and bung them another $50 and say ring me if anything else comes in

http://www.popsike.com/php/detaildatar. ... 1293303274

Wowee! 5 Needle-Types?!! Congrats!

I'm debating if I should try to find someone selling an empty VV-50 side crank mahogany cabinet, top & bottom, or just part the machine out (?) I hate parting machines out

One of the albums that contained 6 Edison Needle types. (I found one more needle type in the other album) The binders are in really nice condition compared to the VV-240 machine itself.

great find and even better price. That looks like a dog got hungry on the case. Tom B

I'm going to try to find another case - maybe ?

I have had a couple of cases refinished by a furniture refinisher. The charge ran from $ 125 to $ 175. If you are not handy at refinishing you could try that. A new case will probably run at least the minimum and might need some work too.. There are several people on this forum that are pros at that so maybe you can reach out for some help if you want to try, It would just cost you the materials. It may not look like a brand new case but at least it will be presentable. Prices on E bay for a case will be about the minimum of $ 100 also.. Tom B

Congratulations on your find. I was very close to checking that out late last week. I was hoping work was going to put me up in that area. That'll teach me to be lazy! Of course who knows if I would have even looked at the console...... I love hearing these stories. Keeps me looking