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Pretty sure I just picked one up for $50. Looks too light for fumed. Pictures to come. Anyone see one in such an unusual finish before?

Here it is.

Looking at the finish examples in "Look for the Dog" and comparing with the inside of the lid (which is probably closest to the original color, being protecte), maybe Gunmetal Oak???

Clay

Can I clean this the same as all the glossy machines? I bet the gold will really pop after a good cleaning.

Gold? An XI should have all nickel hardware. As Clay says, it looks more gunmetal to me as well. I have an L-door XVI in what I'm also pretty sure is gunmetal. I think these used wax based finishes on them. I cleaned mine very lightly with GoJo, it wasn't very dirty and yours doesn't look very dirty either, so my best advice is go slowly. If you notice the finish seems like it's disappearing, you can re-wax it with a good paste wax when you're all done cleaning. I did my XVI with three coats of Briwax (clear) and it came out looking fantastic after I got the hang of getting it just right. I'll post some pics of mine eventually.

Sean

I meant the gold tones in the wood. Yes, if you would please post a picture so I can compare. It does seem pretty clean so I will try your suggestion. Thanks

Thanks for looking it up in the book Clay. I was looking on Victor-Victrola.com but the gunmetal seemed too grey. Once I started cleaining it, especially the inside I could see that is probably what it is. Is there a way to get the outside to look closer to the inside or is that finish gone forver?

The lady was on her way to church so she just told me it was her grandmothers, infact she listed it as a 1942 which is why I think I was able to grab it. It came with a bunch of the one sided 12in 78s too and my first Christmas album.

It is a really nice find Moxie.

I have no personal experience with this particular type finish, so will defer to some of the folks on the Forum who may have worked with one. I expect this and fumed oak are likely the most difficult to replicate, but it would indeed be a treasure if you can get it back to what it was.

Clay

Wasn't gunmetal a special order finish more typically available for models like the XVI?

I am certainly no expert, but I am more inclined to believe this may, in fact, be fumed oak as that was one of the finishes which became available for the XI in April of 1914, and the coloring seems to fit (as far as one can tell from a photo, anyway).

I've never read in any available literature/resources that gunmetal was a special order finish for this model. Which is not to say that somebody wouldn't spring for the extra bucks to special order, but I would be inclined to think that that special order crowd would have leaned more towards Pooley, et al type cabinets.

Comments? Rebuttals?

According to LFTD, the XI came in a choice of 10, count um, 10 different finishes including in oak Antique, Driftwood, Early English, Flemish, Fumed, Golden, Gunmetal, and Weathered. Maybe not too surprising as the XI was Victor's big volume bread and butter machine for years, with north of 850,000 sold.

Always hard to tell for sure from photos, but comparing the color samples in LFTD and Moxie's pics the Gunmetal seems to me to be the closest match for the tones that seem to be present in the inside of the lid on this one. Weathered is a close second. Fumed seems to be too light and more of a brownish shade.

It might be possible to nail it down a bit more from the serial number via date of manufacturer, as Fumed didn't come in until April 1914 as you note Tinkerbell. I don't have anything that tells me when the various other finishes were introduced. Maybe some of our Forum folks who have examples of some of these finishes in their collections can weigh in. There is nothing like looking at the real thing.

Clay