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I came across this listing on the UK eBay site tonight. I've never seen anything quite like it, but it certainly is an ornate machine. According to the seller, this would have been made to order, as the patterns are raised from the wood and feature all over the machine.

Can anyone explain why this would have been done? Is this some kind of super deluxe model, or a cheap rip off done at a later stage?

The gramophone can be viewed here

Probably done by a quality aftermarket firm, maybe to match a furniture suite. The raised work is probably done by building those areas up with Gesso and painting over it.

I believe our fellow member Steve, who opened the UK forum, has a 162 done in a similar style. I dont think much is known about the company (or possibly companies) who did these, but they are mighty rare.
The absents of a decal suggests that a customer bought a machine & had it altered themselves, but if I remeber correctly, Steve's machine has no signs of ever having a factory finish before the cloisonne finish was applied, so it's quite possible these were special order machines, and HMV sent a bare unfinished cabinet elsewhere to have the work done. If this was the case, I imagine the machine would be shipped to the customer direct from the middle man, rather than shipping it to the factory & reshipping it again. This might explain the absents of a decal, or it could be as simple as the decal would look dog ugly on such a machine & distract from the overall design.
It'll be very interesting to see what dollars (pounds) this one brings.
HMV's general output was far lower than other companies who produced this kind of finish (like Victor & Brunswick) so it's quite possible this is the only example of this model in existance.

edit

Shane's summary is about as correct as we know. Little is known about the actual process but it is worth reiterating that none of these 'special' finish gramophones have ever turned up with decals. It appears that the decals were considered intrusive with the otherwise exclusive chinoiserie style. I believe that Harrods and a few other select retailers sold these by special order?

Wow Shane. Sounds like the ultimate custom finish if HMV maybe sent them off before applying the outer standard wooden finish.

The finish is...too blue though. Granted, it's a very attractive piece of furniture but it would look so out of place in modern rooms with paler colour schemes It would dominate a room though, make no doubt about it.

It IS the ultimate finish for any HMV gramophone.

As I said previously, little is known as to the hows and whys but it appears as though exclusive retailers like Harrods and that ilk, retailed these machines, not as 'HMV' products but as THEIR own, hence the lack of decals. HMV must have sold a licence or concession to these retailers exclusively. Otherwise no other retailer was ever allowed to re-sell HMV products without the decals. HMV supplied all its machines to approved dealers with finishes and decals. These machines never had the decals to begin with so they were shipped as bare cabinets for the retailers like Harrods to sell on with the luxury 'custom' finishes applied.

Incidentally, most of these machines also have gold plated hardware, even when the 'standard' model would have had nickel plated fittings. This machine on EBay only has the standard type I note. Somewhat curiously, these gold plated fittings are sometimes finished better and covered more thoroughly than the normal HMV standards permitted. An example of this is the auto-brakes; often on gold-plated models, the underneaths of the base-plates aren't covered with gold (they are not seen after all). On the 'post-market' models, the fittings appear to have been completely gold-plated, including hidden and covered parts, possibly indicating that even those parts were finished after-market!

Steve wrote:...they were shipped as bare cabinets for the retailers like Harrods to sell on with the luxury 'custom' finishes applied.
...


Incidentally, most of these machines also have gold plated hardware, even when the 'standard' model would have had nickel plated fittings. This machine on EBay only has the standard type I note. ...

I noted that the motor-board, and surrounding area have what looks to be a standard factory-applied mahogany finish -- That, along with what you noted above, about the plating, makes me feel this was probably done by a custom shop for one of the gramophone's owners, on an after-market basis.

I think Ortho_Fan could be right. I never looked at the picture showing the motor board very closely. That does look a bit odd and I have to say, unlike any of the other surviving examples I've seen to date. Usually the motor-board would be finished the same as the rest of the cabinet?

I therefore wonder if this is not an after-market 'privately' commissioned piece or maybe the original internal pieces / works are missing and have been replaced with standard pieces later on. I think the latter is probably unlikely though, which therefore suggests this is either a cheaper done privately commissioned finish or a lesser quality version of the Chinoiserie specials. But why if the internal finish is standard oak / mahogany, is there no decal in the lid? A puzzle for sure!

Time to scrutinize the Ebay pictures very closely, I think.

If this had been a Harrods machine not only would it have had Gilt fittings but it would have had a Harrods Plate on it with the account number on.

Most London Retail shops would have been able to produce a "Chinoiserie" finish to order for any client for any piece of furntiure and I think that that is what's happened here.

The only other alternative is that an Interior designer was commisioned to re - fit a room for a client and "Update" the original furniture and therefore an "Ordinary" machine becomes somewhat oriental !

I should point out that when a Gramophone was intended to have this finish the case would have been made of a sort of Balsa wood used in the far east specifically for that finish - Real Laquer was not usually applied to a "Normal" item - only the cheaper retailers did that and normally its Black and NOT real laquer but paint

Hmm, bidding has suddenly shot up since I last checked and it seems to be between two people. I'm interested to see how much it goes for