The Talking Machine Forum — For All Antique Phonographs & Recordings

There is a 2-door Credenza that just showed up on eBay.

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?Vi ... K:MEWAX:IT

The strip down the center of the front and the light strip on the front of the top of the lid look odd. Was this a variant of early models, or some botched tinkering?

Clay

My first impression is that this was added at some point by a tinkerer. But I am usually wrong on my first impressions!

Looks like botched tinkering to me, but even if it is a factory job, it does nothing for the looks of the machine, except make it look worse.

I don't think it left the factory looking like that. Looks like a poor refinish job also. The shading is gone. On the good side, the reproducer looks like a brass one which alone can bring 80 percent of the opening bid.

Jim

Looks as if the lid veneer was damaged and someone tried a repair/improvement. Likewise I wonder if the door didn't get chipped up along the edge & someone tried to hide that. Maybe chances of damage like that is one reason Victor went to the 4 door style.

Looks like the veneer is gone and it is down to the oak substrate.
It looks like the molding on the doors was removed and replaced on top
of the substrate.

Now that I look closer I think the doors and the lid are completely new fabrications.

My bet is as said its a damaged machine that someone put a lot of misguided effort into trying to repair. The finish was ruined near the added front strip which show up badly in the photos, and as mentioned the lid is also butchered. It may be partly the original lid but with major changes made to try and save it. Obviously the victrola label is missing under the lid and so the finish is not the original, which is pretty plain to see also. It is interesting how much effort some will go to to "fix" something, wether for personal use or to just sell it.

Larry