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This morning in our Madrid 'Rastro', kind of London's Portobello road, I couldn't resist the temptation to buy this marvel, a 1920s HMV tabletop, exposed 12" turntable, exhibition soundbox, in a marvelous oak case. I'm thrilled! My first machine with an exhibition soundbox!
The wood is in good shape, all hinges and things on their place. It's the version imported to France, and carries the French gramophone la voix de son maître decal, and a small round plate from a dealer in Metz, Eugene Herman.
It needs the usual cares, motor and tonearm cleaning and greasing,exhibition back rubber and gaskets replacement, etc. But it is in decent unmolested shape. Looks like very well preserved, only some aging in the nickeled parts (mostly dirt) and even in this status it sings wonderfully. I'm excited, impatient to overhaul the soundbox and hear the results...!
Only 165 euro... Seems a good deal to me. What do you think? Can you help identifying the model? It is a real beauty, the photos, light and flash, don't do justice to it's actual looking. Still I feel my arms trembling from the effort of carrying its maybe 15kg down the street until I got a taxi for carrying us home...!
Please, help identifying this model...
PS. A wonderful Columbia no 117 in mahogany was another option, only for 20 euros more. I could well have bought the two machines for a substantial discount... Not to think over it again... or I'll stumble in tears...!

Very nice indeed !

I can't really help with id etc but your post reminded me about how excited I was to get my first and presently only Exhibition sound box with my HMV 100. It seemed so small and heavy ! Love it !

Nice little marvels.... aren't they indeed? And a well serviced exhibition gives a wonderful sound, judging by the ones I've listened to... For acoustic records it must be the best.

Virtually unsaleable in the UK unless you wanted the soundbox or motor , I could let you have one for £20 if you want to collect it , no soundbox or winding handle

I've just looked through the "His Master's Gramophone" book, and there is not one machine that is exactly the same as yours. It is very similar to the model 1a and the 58, but in both cases the speed control and the handbrake positions are reversed. It may well be that this was a model made only for the French market. Well done for getting a bargain, it's a great little machine.

It's a Model 58 in the UK but in France it might have been catalogued differently.

I sold a mahogany example in factory condition for £400 about 10 years ago. They are not common but they are not all that highly sought after here. UK collectors are a uniquely weird bunch of folks!

Similar in size and concept to the fairly common VV-VI in the US. The doors are plain on the Victor version.

This style is known in the UK as a "hornless" to distinguish it from an external horn machine. Of course it has an internal horn, albeit of rather crude design.

As others have said, they are not popular with UK collectors.

It has by design that awful tracking angle common with this type of tonearm. And as the soundbox falls in the middle of the tonearm, inverting the gooseneck to the right hand (soundbox also inverted) has almost no effect in the bad tracking angle at the start of a 12" record. A lifebelt would improve the tracking, and still it would be better to have a special gooseneck made to request with the adequate angle instead of 180 degrees, maybe 135 degrees would track better... A new project indeed...

epigramophone wrote:Of course it has an internal horn, albeit of rather crude design.

As others have said, they are not popular with UK collectors.

The 58 has a substantial cast iron internal horn and not simply a ply construct using the motorboard to form the top of the horn as in the Style 1 / 1A and Style 3 etc.

The motor does not interrupt the horn in other words.