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I bought this VV-XVI L-door at the Carlisle, PA auction last weekend (SN 42570 C). It was listed as Walnut, but since so many things had "creative" descriptions I wanted to ask the experts here. It shure looks close to the sample of American Walnut shown in the Victor Data Book. What do you think?

Another question: The Victrola XVI Type C came originally with six 10" and four 12" albums. This machine came with ten 10" and four 12" albums, all different letters. As you can see, they don't all fit, so they put in two backwards. Does anyone know which album letters were originally supplied and which are additions?

Thanks
Andreas

Congratulations on bringing home a nice mahogany XVI! I've had dozens of dealers tell me these are cherry. It still amazes me how many people simply believe the first thing that comes into their heads, and then tell everyone the "fact." My favorite is when a dealer points to the Edison trademark decal and exclaims, "See? He signed it right there!"

George P.

I think a VV-XVI with a raised motor board would have had record boxes not
albums. But could be close to the time Victor switched over.

Looks mahogany to me. I think the VV XVI to the left of that machine was the walnut one. The original books that came with the L-Door were a little wider (more like boxes with dividers) and would have letters A-J with one each in the side compartments and four 12" disks in the center. I posted a picture of them at http://forum.talkingmachine.info/viewto ... f=9&t=9378. There are currently at least 3 people on the forum looking for these. They sometimes turn up on e-bay but are usually expensive.

One example of the Victrola XVI with the original albums. In this case they are not so much boxes as albums with 16 sleeves, although I owned one years ago that had the boxes (and an incomplete set at that).

I agree, the original binders were somewhat bigger, with six ten inch and four twelve inch with the ten inch being letters a,b,c,,h,i,j and the twelve being d,e,f,g. They were a maroonish brown with the Nipper logo in gold on the front with a gold pull ring on the spine. Hope this helps.

Regards, Wes

I see someonelse posted a photo as I was typing.

Wes

I agree that this is Mahogany. Although the grain as a bit "wider" on the front of the cabinet than most mahogany Victrolas I see so I can see the confusion. Congrats on the new addition regardless. Although the albums aren't original to that machine, it's nice to have them anyway as opposed to many that don't have albums at all. Here is my mahogany L-Door with original albums:
For comparison between mahogany and American Walnut, here is a VV-111 in Walnut I am currently working on:
Congrats again on your new addition!

Skihawx wrote:I think a VV-XVI with a raised motor board would have had record boxes not
albums. But could be close to the time Victor switched over.

My L-door s/n 200xx-C definitely has boxes, not albums.

Congrats on acquiring a handsome L-door. Yes, mahogany.

I keep thinking someone will one of these days make repro albums. You'd think they would sell like hotcakes as so few survive in decent condition.

Clay