The Talking Machine Forum — For All Antique Phonographs & Recordings

Hi Guys

Im in love with the nostalgia of a victor talking machine and im looking at buying one, but i cant really tell if the one im looking at is legit or not. I would appreciate your opinion before i overpay for a fake

I think it looks genuinely old, but i cant figure out what model it is, and the reproducer looks different than other exhibition reproducers.

Thanks for you help - highly appreciated!

I would have to say its a franken-phone; because the redundancy of having the tone arm go inside the case and back out again is typical of the Oriental franks, and to the best of my knowledge no company ever built a tone arm setup like that. The case and tone arm were probably part of a tabletop, and the tone arm connected to an internal horn that was located inside the case under the turntable and motor. However, I have to give credit to the maker of this contraption, because it is very convincing.

But I'm far from being an expert, and could be completely wrong (I actually got into the whole phonograph thing just this past December). Hopefully one of the more experienced guys here can give you a more accurate answer.

Regards,
Colin

Hard to say. It's very similar in design to the HMV 32, which had a simpler, tapered case, swan neck tonearm and #4 sound box --



I know that HMV produced other outside horn models during the late 1920s fitted with slightly different cabinets. (One, I think, had the #5a sound box coupled to the tonearm.)


It could be this model, but fitted with a third party horn --


SEE -- [link removed]



The UK/European based gramophiles will probably know.

DS

It strikes me as a Euro model as well. The horn patina seems properly aged although the turntable and
tone arm seem a little newer than they should be. I would ask for pics of the all 4 sides to see
if it may have been modified from an internal horn model.

antique1973 wrote:It strikes me as a Euro model as well. The horn patina seems properly aged although the turntable and
tone arm seem a little newer than they should be. I would ask for pics of the all 4 sides to see
if it may have been modified from an internal horn model.

I was editing my post while you were posting, and removed the part about it being a Swiss Made version.

In any event, after taking a good look at the blow-up photos of Roni's gramophone, I'm pretty sure it's an authentic HMV model, albeit, assembled in India. As I noted, the horn looks like a replacement. The wood looks to be teak, and all of the other components look like they were supplied by the Gramophone Co.--there's actually quite a bit of corrosion on the metal parts, especially the tonearm. It would be interesting to see what the motor looks like.

As one poster noted on the UK gramophone board, this is an HMV 33. Another one appears on Howard Hope's site -- http://www.gramophones.uk.com/informati ... 3_550.html -- though it seems to be fitted with a #4 sound box.

HTH,
DS

It's definately an original Indian HMV maxchine in teak. I would have thought it'd have a No.4 soundbox, but on the other hand, it'd be pretty unusual for a machine with a goose-neck tonearm to have a No.4 supplied with it.
Indian HMV's tend to have a lot of variations that British machines didn't, probably because The Gramophone Company off-loaded a lot of obsolete stock to the Dum Dum Factory.
This would be a fairly hard to find machine as I dont think production numbers would even equal those of Middlesex, and IMO, the horn makes it more desirable than a boring old Standard HMV/Victor horn.
I cant make out the brand name on what I presume is the manufacturers tag on the top petal, but "Bombay" is quite legible.
I'd grab it personally.

here's a closeup screenshot:

I suspect we'll never find out, as non-member posts like this tend to be one-time things, but I'm curious where this machine may have shown up - ebay, an auction, UK, US, etc.

brianu wrote:I suspect we'll never find out, as non-member posts like this tend to be one-time things, but I'm curious where this machine may have shown up - ebay, an auction, UK, US, etc.

You're probably right....but that didn't stop ME from finding out a little more about it...(sinister laugh...)


http://translate.google.com/translate?s ... st&act=url

From the additional photos posted on the site, it looks like it may have a replacement motor, or the escutcheon has slipped or been replaced.

Either way, Copenhagen is a little to far out of my neck of the woods.

DS

It's like a weird parallel universe. I like the word "Schellackplatten". Has a nice ring to it.