The Talking Machine Forum — For All Antique Phonographs & Recordings

Just finished the restoration on this little machine. I love the grain and figuring that the walnut wood gives it. When I got it, the machine was so dirty and dark that it was hard to tell it was even walnut. The seller originally had it on craigslist as mahogany. I could see enough of the pattern to know that wasn't the case. It is actually a little darker than the pictures make it seem, due to the flash, but you can see the grain patterns better this way. Seems like every machine I find is missing it's original record albums, was that one of the first things to get separated?

Year: 1922
original 1922 selling price: $150.00
An estimated total of 53,683 Victrola 260's were produced

Yes...it is a nice Victrola. Thanks for sharing the photos!

Great machine. I love the wood pattern.
Thanks
Andreas

Seems like every machine I find is missing it's original record albums, was that one of the first things to get separated?

I think in some cases, the albums simply fall apart due to high acid content in the paper used, which makes it crumble with age.
Other times, the owner eventually upgraded to an electric record player, so the machine was thrown in the basement or attic, but the albums were removed & kept with the new player.

gramophoneshane wrote:

Seems like every machine I find is missing it's original record albums, was that one of the first things to get separated?

I think in some cases, the albums simply fall apart due to high acid content in the paper used, which makes it crumble with age.
Other times, the owner eventually upgraded to an electric record player, so the machine was thrown in the basement or attic, but the albums were removed & kept with the new player.

I'll second both of those. The Victor albums with green pages are notorious for this, often splitting right at the page hinge. You often find quantities of surviving albums separated from the machines and filled with later records.

That's a nice machine- usually that's a pedestrian model but the walnut lifts it up considerably in interest.

I have also found that the cloth or "leatherette" used on the covers of Victor albums does not hold up well, often leading to separation of the covers where they join the spine. I get them from time to time with records I have bought and comparatively few have survived well enough to be worth keeping.

One would think that there would be a good market for quality reproductions of Victor albums, but I haven’t seen any.

Clay