The Talking Machine Forum — For All Antique Phonographs & Recordings

I just acquired a Victor VTLA serial number 2357. Is there any way to determine if the Cabinet is Pooley made ? I opened the L Doors and shined a flashlight into the square storage area directly below the Horn opening. In the very back, was Celluloid Rectangular white ID Plate with Black Lettering that says STYLE B on the first Line, and a large P on the second line surrounded by a square. Does the P stand for Pooley? or is it identifying the Victor Cabinet Shop within the Victor Complex that produced the Cabinet. Thanks for your help on this.

Does this help?

http://www.victor-victrola.com/XVI.htm

I believe that the jury's still out as to whether or not this indicates a Pooley supplied cabinet. There was an interesting article about this on the Old Crank site -- http://www.oldcrank.com/articles/vtla/index.html

It seems that an estimated 2,500 Mertz & Pooley style cabinets were made.

OF

phonophan79 wrote:Does this help?

http://www.victor-victrola.com/XVI.htm

Actually I was aware of that article, and all that it says about the 3rd style, which is the one I acquired and was the first Domed Lid type VTLA is that Pooley and Victor both contributed to supplying these cabinets until 1909 when Victor took over total Production. Nothing Definitive as to how to identify a true Pooley Cabinet from a victor made one. What we need here is a true Victor Historian, a Guru, who knows everything there is to know about Victor Victrolas and VTLA's and then some. This Guru will be the one who knows about the origin and meaning of those little rectangular Celluloid ID tags inside the Cabinet.

Follow Up on Wednesday 2/10. Yesterday I contacted Mr.Victor, about this issue and today he has confirmed via email, that 15 years ago he did research this issue of the Celluloid ID with the P symbol inside some of the Cabinets, His results showed that this did in fact indicate that such cabinets were made by the Pooley Company. He has Victor VTLA's in his collecttion (check out his website)and two of them do in fact have the Celluloid ID. Thank you Bob (Mr. Victor) for adding your expertise to confirm the reason for the presence of these ID's in some VTLA Cabinets.

Here is an interesting photo of the Back Bracket on the VTLA. I have never encountered one of these with the large adjustment knob at the rear. Were these used exclusively on this style VTLA or were they used on other Victrola models that came later as well?

solophoneman wrote:Here is an interesting photo of the Back Bracket on the VTLA. I have never encountered one of these with the large adjustment knob at the rear. Were these used exclusively on this style VTLA or were they used on other Victrola models that came later as well?

I think it was exclusively on the VTLA. I have a VV-XII from the first year of production, which was the second victrola produced, and while it has a two part backbracket, like the VTLA, it his held down by two regular screws rather rather than the big knob on the VTLA. So if the XII didn't use it, I'm guessing it wasn't used on any other machine.

Do the screws that hold the tone arm bracket in place, also hold the horn underneath? I have a VTLA in mahogany similar to this one, but the bracket is missing. I am trying to locate one, but would like to know exactly how it attaches.

mattrx wrote:Do the screws that hold the tone arm bracket in place, also hold the horn underneath? I have a VTLA in mahogany similar to this one, but the bracket is missing. I am trying to locate one, but would like to know exactly how it attaches.

Partially correct. The three screws that hold the tone arm bracket down, do hold hup the horn. However. there is also one more screw between the tone arm base and turntable that also hold the horn up. It's a little hard to see in this picture (blued screw on a dark finish), but if you look carefully, you can see i tin this picture.