A once in a lifetime find: a rare Victor Electrola....
 

Snowed like hell today in Buffalo, so figured I'd venture out to a couple estate sales.

The second and last estate sale I went to today (it was just too snowy and the roads were REALLY bad) was at a house in the very rich, very old section of the city, I later found out that the woman in the house lived to be just over 100 when she recently passed.

Today's find at that sale was this Victor Electrola model VE10-69E. This one was made in 1928, and cost $850, which translates into $11,400 in today's dollars. Something that you didn't spend on a record player unless you were a captain of industry! Only 1,900 of this model were ever made. I can't find anything on the 'net about them, other than a page on the victor-victrola site that has this set at 3 stars out of 4 for rarity.

According to that site, this machine is worth between $500 and $3,000+.

It's missing the tonearm, platter, and motor but is otherwise complete and original....speaker and amplifier haven't been touched since new. It was sitting across from a beautiful Steinway upright piano that wasn't for sale.

Does ANYone know anything about the Electrolas, or know anyone who has this or a very similar model, by chance? At this stage in the game, I'm not sure what to do with it, but after 4 hours of cleaning it, it has me absolutely captivated......the last picture shows it presently after careful cleaning.

That had the early record changer in it. The area with the slanted bottom was the place where the records were placed after playing. These machines are very rare. I have a VE10-90 that is complete and unrestored. I got it from the grandson of the original owner over 20 years ago. Mine was originally in the lobby of a hotel that was a notorious house of ill repute in the 20's and 30's. Mine is one of less than 600 that were made and cost $1,250 new.

It was kind of fortunate that we had such a heavy snow today. It's incredibly heavy, but, with the help of a worker at the sale, slid easily slide it across a snow and ice covered road, and right into my waiting van :)

What are the odds of being able to find a replacement changer for this, being that they are so rare? Is it a worthwhile endeavor to restore electronically? I've been thinking that a resto-mod using the original amplifier and a different era-appropriate turntable assembly might be the way to go at least until I could find a changer.

Doing so, of course, in a way that won't alter the original should I happen across one.

Wow, that's a nice find! Just gotta love the Buffalo weather these last few weeks huh?

I'm about had. Between clearing snow, a van that wouldn't start, and wind chills in the -20 range, I'm worn out. And at this point, I'm starting not to care what the house looks like, which is highly HIGHLY unusual for me.

GREAT score, Tim !

And now the plot thickens.....

I knew the amp didn't look right, from everything I saw in pictures I spotted here and there online.

Someone in or around 1940 retrofitted the amplifier with an RCA MI-12202-B 15 watt commercial grade amp, with push pull 6L6. Pulled it out, and there it was, cosmetically perfect but really dusty.....

-not all original anymore..... oops....

Still nice looking...

Yeah, well, you can't have everything I guess :)

The more I look at it, the more I think that a resto-mod is the way to go here, and doing so in a way that won't alter the original if I should somehow actually find the parts. My mantra is generally that if it is with me, it has to be made to work in some way shape or form.

Still pondering here....

You can find late 20's electric single-play units fairly easily still. They made the same basic design up to the mid to late 30's with only minor changes in appearance, etc. The tone arms are rather heavy with those horseshoe pickups they used then though, so I wouldn't play any rare or one of a kind records on it.

I thought that was strange to see the amplifier still intact. It seems when these turn up, the amp is usually pulled. The record changer is a massive unit that you would really want a second person's help to remove.

I did get a chance to see one of these working- the owner spent years working on it-I believe the amp and maybe the changer were missing when he bought the cabinet. It sounded okay-but even the electrolas produced the next year sounded so much better than that thing. I guess the quality could edge out an acoustic orthophonic Victrola, certainly having a volume control would have been a plus.

I kind of like Truetone's idea- pick up a beat-up RCA Victor RE series electrola. You'll have plenty of room for a single play unit like that in the cabinet, and the audio from the 245 amp will be much better.

I have a semi-functional 1931 RCA changer that I'd consider parting with.

You could probably get a small fortune for that amp if you know of any good Audio Sites. :D

Seriously though doing something cool like fitting it with a newer turntable would be great!
Something appropriately upscale though like a 1950's Thorens or Garrard, no 1970's BSR or VM for that baby.

I like that RCA amplifier, to me it's more interesting than what was originally in there. RCA was on top of the world in that era, and that amplifier has the world changing 6L6 right after they came out. If this was mine I would repair the amplifier, and put something like a Pilot FM tuner on top of the cabinet.... inside I would use a reclaimed 3 speed VM changer, or something useful for playing LP records, who really can listen to hours of 78s anyway? If the speaker is good, keep it, if not, a Jensen or even a Quam would work nicely.

Well, my plan for the moment is to restore the MI-12202B amp and plan to use that until such time as I can find the original one. Honestly, I much prefer the RCA amp to the original. I just hate working on 1920s tube gear.....I'll do it if I have to, but I hate it.

Hopefully Electronic M will sell me the changer for this thing.....I'm all tingly just thinking about it :D