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Made from mahogany ?

It looks kind of special ?

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Vintage-His- ... SwADZfWPoD

Tropical Teak 102's were stained to resemble dark mahogany. If this machine is genuine it is full of anomalies, including :

All the Teak 102's I have seen had chrome plated case corners. This one does not.
Plastic needle bin and no record tray pegs on the motor board suggest a late 1930's example, yet it has an old style lid transfer not used on UK portables since the late 1920's.
The green turntable felt may not be original. Surely it should be brown.

Condition issues include a badly cracked lid with a badly scratched finish which looks beyond saving.

If I did not already have a Teak 102 I might take it on as a project, but it would have to be cheap.

epigramophone wrote:Tropical Teak 102's were stained to resemble dark mahogany. If this machine is genuine it is full of anomalies, including :

All the Teak 102's I have seen had chrome plated case corners. This one does not.
Plastic needle bin and no record tray pegs on the motor board suggest a late 1930's example, yet it has an old style lid transfer not used on UK portables since the late 1920's.
The green turntable felt may not be original. Surely it should be brown.

Condition issues include a badly cracked lid with a badly scratched finish which looks beyond saving.

If I did not already have a Teak 102 I might take it on as a project, but it would have to be cheap.

VERY interesting to read your views as always.

It seems to have a needle tin holder at the back right side too ?

The clip in the lower right of the lid, which featured on many HMV machines, was to hold a tin of Tungstyle long playing needles.

epigramophone wrote:Tropical Teak 102's were stained to resemble dark mahogany. If this machine is genuine it is full of anomalies, .
The green turntable felt may not be original. Surely it should be brown.
.

Also has a green carrying handle , a green needle container and the internal horn also looks greenish

maybe it started life as a green 102 ?, the green covering removed and the top board replaced with one from an earlier table model ? wouldn't be difficult to do and get it all to blend in , but why would anyone go to the trouble

If I were to be rather cynical... the HMV transfer in the lid looks possibly as though it's been applied in more recent years and then "distressed" to blend in with the heavy wear on the rest of the case. The scratches don't seem to match the scratching of the adjacent wood.

Orchorsol wrote:If I were to be rather cynical... the HMV transfer in the lid looks possibly as though it's been applied in more recent years and then "distressed" to blend in with the heavy wear on the rest of the case. The scratches don't seem to match the scratching of the adjacent wood.

Interesting ...

....... otherwise maybe a deliberate attempt to make Nipper look more like a dalmation

Orchorsol wrote:If I were to be rather cynical... the HMV transfer in the lid looks possibly as though it's been applied in more recent years and then "distressed" to blend in with the heavy wear on the rest of the case. The scratches don't seem to match the scratching of the adjacent wood.

You could be right, although I have seen lid transfers on teak machines damaged by the natural oils in the wood.

Soundgen could also be right about the machine starting life in green leathercloth. That would explain the absence of case corners, as pre-war coloured 102's did not have them.

Nevertheless, it seems strange to me that a machine modified to resemble a rarer one should have ended up being donated to a charity shop.

epigramophone wrote:

Orchorsol wrote:If I were to be rather cynical... the HMV transfer in the lid looks possibly as though it's been applied in more recent years and then "distressed" to blend in with the heavy wear on the rest of the case. The scratches don't seem to match the scratching of the adjacent wood.

You could be right, although I have seen lid transfers on teak machines damaged by the natural oils in the wood.

Soundgen could also be right about the machine starting life in green leathercloth. That would explain the absence of case corners, as pre-war coloured 102's did not have them.

Nevertheless, it seems strange to me that a machine modified to resemble a rarer one should have ended up being donated to a charity shop.

I've asked the charity for more photos which could prove the provenance one way or another

Looks authentic to me, but the best would be to request a photo of the plinth without the turntable. Normally the colonial models have numbers and letters pressed on the wood . Some of the incongruences that Epigramophone pointed out are also present in other colonials, e.g. old decals and parts utilized in newer models, or vice-versa in the case of the HMV100. The decay in the decal is typical, most deteriorate on the teak surface, they say due to oily nature of that wood. The unexplainable to me are the colored parts and the lack of the corner protectors (my teak 102 also has them).