The Talking Machine Forum — For All Antique Phonographs & Recordings

I'm pretty certain not folk art, I've seen quite a few machines built into cases resembling hat boxes and vanity cases- one of the hat box styles was trademarked "Flapperphone"

Covah wrote:

Folkartophones? Flarkophones? Fartophones?

or none of the above. I'm pretty sure this is genuine.

Flapperphone? Well ain't that something.

Most I've seen were branded Odeon. They turn up fairly frequently.

Here's a decorated "L" door Victrola that I have always enjoyed. The cabinet has several modifications. The exposed hinges have been replaced with hidden hinges. The short legs with casters have been replaced with a skirt at the base. The mahogany finish has been painted in a folk art style and a topless women covers the Victrola decal inside the lid.
I have many unanswered question about this machine. Why were the hinges hidden? Why was the base modified? Why was an expensive machine painted in such a folk art style? Would a topless woman have been painted inside the lid when this machine was a current model?
Whenever I have enjoyed a visit from another collector, I always ask their opinion of this machine. I would appreciate any comments and opinions that you are willing to share. You can't offend me because I like the machine.

Thanks, Jerry B.

That isn't exactly folk art, it's very much in the style of fresco decoration found in the ruins of Pompeii:

http://www.google.com/images?hl=en&clie ... 66&bih=575

It wasn't unheard of to find entire rooms decorated in this style:

http://madameguillotine.org.uk/2010/01/ ... interiors/ (scroll down)

I think your machine might have been in a very fashionable room.

In the 1920s, particularly after finding Tutankhamens tomb, this style was very fashionable. Traditional brown furniture changed to whitewashed wicker, skirt lengths went up, electric lighting meant far more details, so the jazz-age people had to keep up. So your brown Victrola had to be jazzed up too, to fit into the picture.

Expensive when new, but it wouldn't be a surprise to find that this was garbage-picked & made over.