The Talking Machine Forum — For All Antique Phonographs & Recordings

For some reason I can't copy this one:

http://images.marketplaceadvisor.channe ... d2a071.jpg

The Vincennes was a run of the mill Credenza Clone but from this ad you'd think it was at least as good as a Victor.

Great ad! I love those colorful Art Deco graphics! I'm guessing this is one of those companies that went belly up in the Depression?

bbphonoguy wrote:Great ad! I love those colorful Art Deco graphics! I'm guessing this is one of those companies that went belly up in the Depression?

Judging from the number of surviving examples that I've encountered in Southern Indiana, I'd say they may have sold somewhere between none and one of them! I've never seen one before. We recently saw a Credenza-clone in a mall in Louisville but it was literally buried in junk so we couldn't even open the lid, but it very well may have been one of these.

I've seen one but didn't hear it or examine it in detail. It appeared to be a decently built machine, about the quality of a late 20's Silvertone- attractive but below the Victor standards.

Nice picture. Here is a downloadable copy.

I found this ad recently.An Orthophonic knock-off.edisonplayer

The line drawing of the smaller "Venetia" is so similar to the Victrola Consolette that I wonder whether Vincennes were buying obsolete cabinets from Victor.

There is a precedent for this in the UK. Redundant HMV Model XI cabinets were sold to the Vernon Lockwood Company of London, manufacturers of the Perophone. I saw one of these Perophones in an antique shop in the 1970's but did not buy it. Only the woodworm holding hands prevented it's imminent collapse.

epigramophone wrote:The line drawing of the smaller "Venetia" is so similar to the Victrola Consolette that I wonder whether Vincennes were buying obsolete cabinets from Victor.

There is a precedent for this in the UK. Redundant HMV Model XI cabinets were sold to the Vernon Lockwood Company of London, manufacturers of the Perophone. I saw one of these Perophones in an antique shop in the 1970's but did not buy it. Only the woodworm holding hands prevented it's imminent collapse.

I would doubt it- I have never seen a Victor cabinet with anything but a Victor product in it. Even just before the introduction of the Orthophonic line they chose to deeply discount their soon to be obsolete models rather than modify them.

On the other hand, some Edison Disc cabinets WERE sold off to secondary makers.

estott wrote:...
I would doubt it- I have never seen a Victor cabinet with anything but a Victor product in it. Even just before the introduction of the Orthophonic line they chose to deeply discount their soon to be obsolete models rather than modify them.
On the other hand, some Edison Disc cabinets WERE sold off to secondary makers.

Oddly enough, Victor did use up some older, pre-Orthophonic components by stuffing them into one of the Orthophonic model cabinets -- the Latin American export market version of the Consolette, the VV-4-1:

http://www.victor-victrola.com/4-1.htm

I guess the logic was, "they don't have ears down there."

I've only spotted one so far. It was for sale on craigslist about 15 years ago. Unlike the description on the Victrola page, this one was also equipped with a louvered, old style horn, along with the "fat" tonearm and #2 sound box.

OF

That's interesting, I have never heard of that brand. Being from Indiana, its interesting to see some machines that were either made or marketed by Indiana companies. I have always heard of Starr, but never Vincennes. I am wondering if they made very many machines?