Rank Sentimentality

[phonogfp]

Back in the early/mid-1960s, my brother (eight years my senior) performed odd jobs around a venerable brick mansion on the Main Street of our hometown.  It was occupied by an equally venerable dowager whose late husband had once been the #1 apple producer in New York State.  Around 1965 or 1966 (when I was 11 or 12), my brother brought home a Victrola which had dwelt in this house all its life.  Among all the mysteries of my older brother's bedroom, crammed with antique firearms, swords, books, and even a small cannon, this Victrola grabbed my imagination.  I'd sneak into the darkened gloom of the forbidden chamber to lift the lid of this strange machine, remembering the occasional treat of hearing it play.  The way it sounded, the way it looked...  I don't need to explain any of this here - you remember.

 

Well, my brother is in a nursing home now, and his wife is clearing out piles of...stuff...very little of which interested me.  Including "the" Victrola.  She literally badgered me to make the 2-hour trip to get it out of her house, which I finally did this past weekend.  I didn't want it.  It's a VV-XIV of the D series (1913).  Okay, it DOES have a nice original finish, and I serviced the motor 5 or 6 years ago.  But it's only a VV-XIV.

 

Now it sits in my crowded basement shop.  I really need to jettison much of my basement's contents.  I wish I could find another beginner so I could shower him/her with...stuff.  This Victrola XIV would be the first thing to go, right?  I've already moved it twice.  But every time I see it, I remember standing in that curtained room, peeking under the lid, and sometimes daring to turn the crank once or twice.  This is THE ONE that hooked me.  The first antique talking machine I ever saw, and THE ONE that kept drawing me to my poor brother's room.  (In April 1967, he finally gave me an Aeolian-Vocalion in order to gain some peace and privacy.)  But this was "numero uno." 

 

Oh, why couldn't my sister-in-law have sold this in her yard sale?

 

George P.

[Dan]

You have to keep it

[Django]

For reasons that I can’t explain, the VV-XIV B, C and D are some of my favorite machines, (I have some beautiful guitars, but my plain Martin 000-18 is the one that I am most drawn to).

The VV-XIV D doesn’t seem to come along too often, but I recently came across one in Fumed Oak and didn’t hesitate to buy it.  The machine had been purchased new by the woman’s grandmother and came with boxes of records, (like I need more records).

 

 I paid her asking price and the understated Victrola, the machine’s history and boxes of records came home, (three of the records are a story for another day)..  
 

I guess that a machine either moves you or it doesn’t.  You either want it in your collection or you don’t.  A wise young lady once ended a debate between her boyfriend and myself, saying:  If everyone loved Roses, what would a Daisy do?  

 

I can relate to the unwanted inheritance issue.  There is probably someone out there that would love to have that machine.  That would, in my opinion anyway, be the higher tribute.

Edited January 12 by Django

[Tinfoilphono]

I think you're stuck with it, George. Unless you can find an excited young newcomer to the hobby to pass it on to. Then you'd have extra satisfaction in sharing something that has personal history, hopefully sending that new collector on a long and pleasant journey and the machine into new sentimental territory.

[phonogfp]

17 hours ago, Dan said:

You have to keep it

 

18 minutes ago, Tinfoilphono said:

I think you're stuck with it, George.

 

Na na na na na na na na...!

 

I agree with Django and Rene, that getting this XIV into the hands of an appreciative collector (preferably a young beginner) would be the ideal solution.  I hope I will find one.  Meanwhile, I'll be haunted each time I go into my workshop shop...!

 

I should also clarify that although I don't want this Victrola in my collection, it doesn't mean that I don't like it.  I'm an admirer of early Victrolas with their deep lids and distinctive styling. 

 

George P.

[phonogfp]

Coincidentally, someone posted this 1912 advertisement this morning over on the APS Facebook group:

 

 

There's the Victrola XIV at the lower right.  About 10 years ago I purchased a very nice example of the XI shown at the middle right.  It had the record rack and those squat sound doors - along with the deep lid.  That machine went to a promising young collector who has subsequently distinguished himself as the Editor of the APS magazine!

 

George P.