The Talking Machine Forum — For All Antique Phonographs & Recordings

Hi guys,

Came across a victrola phonograph today with an octagonal base and horn. Tried finding some information on it but couldn't. There seemed to be a victrola decal on the front panel but most of it was worn off.

From memory, the base was a reddish wood and it had decorative pillars at each corner where the panels came together.

The crank was there, the tone arm was shiny like chrome and the reproducer was also shiny like chrome, but instead of the mica on the outside, it looked more like a hubcap (shiny chrome with air slots) "HIS MASTERS VOICE" at the top and something on the bottom, but can't remember.

The horn was attached to an arm in the back that looked like it was a cast piece, silver in color but not shiny.

The horn looked like brass was dull not shiny and had looked like a giant flower or something at the end of the horn.

Would like to know more about this victrola. Is it real? Is it a repo? What model? Is it valuable? Is it worth purchasing? Have a chance to pick it up at a good price if it is a actual vintage victrola.

Sorry I have no pics.

If someone has pics of these kind of victrolas or knows of a site where I can look at pics of these, I will try to pick out the one I saw.

Thanks in advance for your help,
Mark

What can you tell me about an octagonal base victrola????

That it's a reproduction that will ruin your records.
They are made in India & China, and are pure junk. This is a catalogue of one companies models, and an article about them.

http://www.oldcrank.com/articles/crapop ... alog-1.pdf

http://www.oldcrank.com/articles/crapop ... troduction

gramophoneshane

thank you very much for that article, it helped very much.

I looked at the second link you had posted on how to spot a fake and that record player fits the bill perfectly for a fake. The craftsmanship did look like crap compared to looking at other real vintage victrolas.

I am so glad for this forum. I am new to this hobby and wouldn't want to make a costly mistake with a repo piece of junk.

Mark

We are getting a lot of newbies on this board. That is a good thing. Getting fresh blood into the hobby is a very welcome.

But you newbies need to do some research. There are a number of fine websites and books available that us old timers didn't have 20 or 30 years ago. Check out Paul Edie's Victor Victrola page. If you google "Victrola" it is the first or second web page that pops up. He has a wealth of information there. People who come here and say they can't find any information on Victrolas either didn't try very hard or don't use the right search engine.

Spend some money for the Reiss book. Buy "Look for the Dog."

Some members of this forum love to answer the same question over and over again, but I find that boring.

Hi Mark! Welcome to the hobby and welcome to this board. The term 'Victrola' refers specifically to products of the Victor Taling Machine Company that have the horn enclosed within the cabinet. If you can see a horn, it isn't a Victrola. There are many exceptions and 'never-say-nevers' in this hobby. The only exception to this is the Victor VV-XXV, also called the 'School House' Victor. These do have an external horn (usually oak), although the nomenclature 'VV- ' in the model designation stands for 'Victor Victrola'. This one oddball exception not withstanding, all Victrolas have internal horns.

I also have a victrola which has a large octagonal box base made of dark wood with brass plating a large horn and has a His master voice plate, also has the orginal record which is red and is also his masters voice. has made in India on the piece.. i have photos and would like to know the value and year it was made.

shel_b wrote:I also have a victrola which has a large octagonal box base made of dark wood with brass plating a large horn and has a His master voice plate, also has the orginal record which is red and is also his masters voice. has made in India on the piece.. i have photos and would like to know the value and year it was made.

it would help if you'd post a photo, but as with the ones described above, it's likely a contemporary reproduction and monetarily not worth much - these are on ebay all the time and when they sell, if they sell, it's for maybe a hundred bucks, more or less, for curiosity or display value. the typical collector wouldn't want anything to do with such machines.

I think the problem that newbies like myself have is that we can spend hours at websites or buried in books. Those sources are excellent and one can learn about the various models etc. However, newbies also encounter lots of machines that were NOT discussed in those websites or books. There are tons of Crapophones out there that confuse some newbies. Are they a no-name brand? Is it an old phonograph with new parts? Is it old but just of low quality? Maybe it's not real at all? They simply are not sure. This gives birth to the posts asking for information that bores some of the forums members.

"I found this machine but I can't locate any information about it." Can you help?.

It just takes some time to acquire an "eye" for that which is real and the gut feeling that tells one that something is not right. You have to see lots of machines, read lots of books and visit lots of websites to make the leap from Newbie to Old Timer. If I personally had asked a question and received that post in response I would mutter a few obscenities under my breath and never come back this site again.

It's sad that so many are getting their first experience with Talking Machines by purchasing one of the the bizarre looking monstrocities from India. I don't want to be the one to tell them that the internet is full of these things usually for around $200.
For that much money they could have bought a decent VV-IV or VI Victrola.

Hi
The "Reiss Book" that AZ referred to but didn't give the title of is called "The Compleat Talking Machine" by Eric Reiss and it is a very handy book to have, as it discusses repairs in depth, shows pictures of many machines with descriptions and the most recent editions have a chapter dedicated to the reproduction machines. It is a very good investment for the beginning collector!