The Talking Machine Forum — For All Antique Phonographs & Recordings

A nice old gentleman gave me an old Victor crate that he had lying around. I like it and I think it is kind of cool, but what do you do with it? I considered making a top and base, (not affixed), and placing my VV-X table top on it. I was wondering what others do. Too nice to throw out and maybe a little crude for display.

Also, the lettering on the end looks like a date and serial number, but I don't know what the bottom line represents. Any ideas?

I mounted mine on the wall of my garage with some others related things.

Looks like it housed a "mahog" machine (probably a VI or a IX), with the serial number of the machine and the soundbox. I have several similar crates which I display either full of excelsior or with the appropriate machines sitting on them. Of course, none of them are in the living area of the house!

George P.

I've found that the table model Victor shipping crates are much harder to find than the floor model Victor shipping crates. I've seen plenty of floor model VV-X, VV-XI and VV-XIV crates over the years but perhaps only one or two table model Victor crates (in the "wild" not at a show). It seems counterintuitive (even irrational?) that original owners kept the larger crates since they take up a considerable amount of space versus the smaller crates. I kept a nice complete VV-XIV shipping crate (destined for a Syracuse NY Victor dealer) for many years in our garage until my wife wanted the garage cleaned out so I reluctantly removed all the sides and tossed them in a dumpster and kept just one side that had a nice Victor logo on it. Interesting, that particular Victor shipping crate had been nicely repurposed (presumably by the original owner) into a storage cabinet with shelves inside and one tall side was hinged to use as a door. It was a nice crate but it surely did take up garage space. I figured no one within reasonable driving distance would want it for that very reason so I knocked it apart and kept one side.

Doug

I was up in someone's attic about 30 years ago looking at the house with my sister since it was for sale. They had three Victrola XVI packing crates up there and someone had put hinges on one of the front panels and made them into a storage closet thing to hang clothes in. They were all fastened together and actually looked pretty good, but I didn't want them.

I knew a guy that bought a Seeburg KT Special that had been made into a wardrobe as well! Those people didn't like to waste stuff. I know that the Vance Company here in Mason City, broke most of the crates up and used them to help heat the building in the winter. And later on they did that with the Victrolas and pump organs they took in on trade (usually for radios) that they felt had no re-sale value. And I doubt in the 30's and 40's any of that stuff had much re-sale value.

Looking at the crate again, it looks like "Mah 9."

George P.

This is from an old crate , there were two panels with a lithograph on them. I added glass and a small molding to make a picture frame look.

I had a nice Edison Diamond Disc crate, which are very nice looking. Some of the printing is in red and says "A Musical Masterpiece" on it. But I made a fatal mistake. Not having much room for it, I put it outside for awhile not knowing that a rain storm was coming. The rain ruined it, warping the panels and making the red ink on the wood bleed off. So space is the main problem with crates unless you have a barn.

tictalk wrote:This is from an old crate , there were two panels with a lithograph on them. I added glass and a small molding to make a picture frame look.

That one would be worth framing. They even said this end up “please”.

I actually use the identical crate (although I think someone applied a coat of wax to it at some point to mine) as a livingroom toy box for the kiddies. I figure if it's serving some genuine utilitarian purpose, it will go pretty much anywhere