The Victor Talking Machine Company was founded by Eldridge Johnson in 1901, and quickly became a main player in the quickly growing phonograph market. Johnson had been active in the phonograph business as a motor supplier for several years earlier, and had learned an immense deal about the emerging home entertainment market. At the turn of the century, all phonographs used a large external horn to “amplify” the playback sound. Although this system worked quite well, the stark horn tended to dominate the average parlor, and many people felt that this created an unattractive appearance. In addition, the horn was quite prone to being bumped or damaged.
Also appears as 'RCA Victor Records'. The change of logo occurred in 1968. The RCA Victor brand was introduced in 1945 in advertising and 1946 on actual record labels, where it replaced the Victor and Bluebird (3) brands. Until then, on records, the RCA Victor division of the Radio Corporation of America only used the Victor brand, which was acquired in the Victor Talking Machine Co. Westinghouse, RCA, Philco, Watterson Radio, and Zenith all manufactured this type of radio in the 1930s and 1940s. The easiest way to identify a specific radio model to know if it is antique is the model number and serial number. These will be printed somewhere on the radio and can help you determined the year that it was manufactured. If you own a Victor product, and would like to contribute to the master database, please click here to access the questionnaire. No names or addresses are necessary, only information relative to your phonograph's serial number, design features, etc. Models are listed in alphabetical order. The model number is shown first, followed by a serial number. On the leftmost plate above, the model is a 'VV-XI' and the serial number is '836749'. 'VV' stands for Victor-Victrola. Some external horns have just a 'V' for Victor, and others use 'Type' or 'Style' to identify the model. Some machines use names rather than numeric model designations. Make Offer - Vintage RCA Victor AM Tube Radio Bakelite Model 66X2 Restored. RCA 1937 Model 85BT6 Radio - Restored and Works. $180.00 +$30.95 shipping.
Johnson (and his growing staff) made numerous improvements to the phonograph in those early years, including a tapered tone arm, enhanced sound boxes and quieter, more even running spring motors. The phonograph market grew considerably, and due to a creative and well-funded advertising campaign, Victor’s sales progressively increased. Johnson arranged to have well known opera stars and musicians support his products, which sparked additional sales at an advertising cost of roughly 50% of the company’s total profit. However, increased competition from other companies and continued objections to the huge horn limited Victor’s market. Furthermore, business was continually endangered due to the massive numbers of lawsuits filed by competitors; this became a constant battle for all phonograph companies in the first part of the 20th Century. Victor won most suits and was able to survive (in no small part due to some very expensive legal representation). Around 1905, Victor began to experiment with a new idea to make the phonograph more satisfactory and convenient. The horn was folded downward into a large floor standing cabinet, so that the horn opening was below the turntable. Two doors were used to cover the opening. This concept had an added benefit in that the doors acted as a simple but effective “volume control”; when they were open, the sound was loud, when they were closed, the volume was reduced.
This idea was swiftly patented, and the copyrighted the name “Victrola” was given to this innovative invention. The term Victrola thus applies ONLY to internal horn phonographs made by the Victor Talking Machine Company, and is not a general term for all old or antique phonographs. The first internal horn phonograph, originally selected as The Victor-Victrola, was marketed in 1906. Since Victor did not have adequate manufacturing facilities to manufacture the large cabinet, the Pooley Furniture Company of Philadelphia was contracted as a cabinet supplier. The machine was intended for sale for affluent customers, as the initial sale price was a lofty $200 (the most expensive Victor with an external horn sold for half that price). In spite of the cost, the machine sold rapidly, and Victor knew it had an instant success on its hands.
The original flat-top Victrola design had quite a few deficiencies, the most problematic was the need for the user to uncomfortably “reach way down” into the deep cabinet opening in order to change a record or lift the needle. In less than one year, this was resolved through the use of a domed lid, This allowed the turntable and tone arm to sit practically flush on top of the cabinet. Only a few thousand flat-top Pooley Victrolas were produced, making them extremely sought-after by collectors today.
The original flat-top Victrola design had quite a few deficiencies, the most problematic was the need for the user to uncomfortably “reach way down” into the deep cabinet opening in order to change a record or lift the needle. In less than one year, this was resolved through the use of a domed lid, This allowed the turntable and tone arm to sit practically flush on top of the cabinet. Only a few thousand flat-top Pooley Victrolas were produced, making them extremely sought-after by collectors today.
The earliest Victrolas were designated by a “VTLA” (an abbreviation for Victrola) identification on the data plate, although they were soon marketed as “Victrola the Sixteenth” or VV-XVI. Victor also experimented with marketing a more luxurious model, designated “Victrola the Twentieth” (VV-XX), which sold for $300, with gold plated trim on the cabinet. Only a few hundred of these models were manufactured before being discontinued due to the high cost. Production of the XVI model ramped-up quickly, and the VTLA identification was superseded by “VV-XVI” on the data plate in early 1908. Around the same time Victor quickly expanded its cabinet manufacturing operations, and the services of Pooley were no longer required. Victor added different finish choices, including oak, walnut, mahogany and even custom painted versions.
By the middle of 1909, approximately 15,000 Victrolas had been sold, and Johnson decided to make the most of on his success by introducing a lower priced model. Thus, in 1909, the tabletop Victrola XII was introduced, selling for $125. This initial attempt to make a low-price compact Victrola was not successful, as the horn opening was too small for sufficient volume in a large room. In 1910, two new tabletop models replaced the XII, the Victrola X ($75.00) and Victrola XI ($100.00). These tabletop models had enhanced performance than the XII, and began to sell fairly well, even though the price was still prohibitive for many Americans. A smaller version of the VV-XVI was also introduced, named Victrola the Fourteenth or VV-XIV ($150.00).
In 1911, with an eye on the average family’s budget, Victor introduced quite a few new low-priced models, the VV-IV, VV-VI, VV-VIII and VV-IX, with prices ranging from $15.00 up to $50.00. Soon after, the VV-X and VV-XI were converted from tabletop models to low priced floor models.
The new low priced machines were a smashing success, and Victrola production rose from several thousand per year in 1906, to just about 250,000 per year by 1913. While the Victrola model lineup remained relatively unchanged through World War I, several deluxe models were introduced in the mid-to-late ‘teens, including the VV-XVIII ($300.00) and the VV-XVII ($250.00). By 1917, Victor was making well over a half million Victrolas a year. The VV-XI floor model was the most popular of all, selling more than 850,000 copies during its manufacturing run (1910-1921). For the affluent customer, Victrolas were also available in a assortment of custom designs, with hand painted images, exotic wood, and Japanese lacquer finishes. These machines were produced in low quantities, and are extremely desirable today.
In 1911, with an eye on the average family’s budget, Victor introduced quite a few new low-priced models, the VV-IV, VV-VI, VV-VIII and VV-IX, with prices ranging from $15.00 up to $50.00. Soon after, the VV-X and VV-XI were converted from tabletop models to low priced floor models.
The new low priced machines were a smashing success, and Victrola production rose from several thousand per year in 1906, to just about 250,000 per year by 1913. While the Victrola model lineup remained relatively unchanged through World War I, several deluxe models were introduced in the mid-to-late ‘teens, including the VV-XVIII ($300.00) and the VV-XVII ($250.00). By 1917, Victor was making well over a half million Victrolas a year. The VV-XI floor model was the most popular of all, selling more than 850,000 copies during its manufacturing run (1910-1921). For the affluent customer, Victrolas were also available in a assortment of custom designs, with hand painted images, exotic wood, and Japanese lacquer finishes. These machines were produced in low quantities, and are extremely desirable today.
In 1913, the first electric motor option became available on the Victrola XVI, eliminating the need for cranking after every few records were played. Victrolas with electric motors were called “Electrolas”. This option didn’t really catch-on until late into the 1920’s, as electrical power was not yet widely available, and the added cost of the motor was too expensive for most buyers.
Due to national defense needs, production decreased during World War I. Victor transitioned production to biplane wings and other war materials. When the war ended, the demand remained strong, but Victor found that it had a lot of new competition from small upstart companies, who often made cheaper (and usually substandard) phonographs. Thus, by late 1919, sales started to diminish. Victor redesigned most of its lineup in the early 1920’s with scores of new models, including some horizontal console styles such as the VV-210 ($100.00) and the VV-300 ($250.00). These Victrolas sold well for a short period of time, but the increasing popularity of recently developed home radios began to take their toll on the phonograph market. Radio offered endless variety, superior sound quality, and best of all; the consumer did not need to purchase records. By 1923, Victor offered a few phonographs (with an “S” prefix before the model identification) that would permit an aftermarket radio to be installed in the cabinet together with the turntable (using the Victrola’s horn as a “speaker”), but this did little to perk up sales. By late 1924, the bottom literally fell out of the phonograph business, and Victor had to make some major improvements in order to stay alive. A number of documents indicate that literally hundreds of thousands of unsold Victrolas were sitting in warehouses by early 1925. In order to move this stock, a massive “half-price” sale was held during the summer of 1925, in which every unsold Victrola would be offered at half the normal list price. Both dealers and the company “ate” the losses. The sale was a success, but the assessment of Victrolas (including the market value of the entire company) took a serious down fall. Dealers who had sold an elegant VV-125 to a customer for $275 in 1924 would offer only $25 for the same model in trade a year later. Clearly, this created some bad press for the company and the dealer network.
In November, 1925, Victor introduced the “Orthophonic” Victrola, which utilized the latest sound reproducing technology offering far superior reproduction. The old style Victrolas sounded feeble compared to these products. Remarkable improvements were made in the design of the horns and the sound boxes, in part based on signal transmission theory developed during World War I. This was achieved without the use of electronics, but rather though sophisticated acoustic designs. The tinny Victrola sound was now replaced with a rich warm tone that was superior to all but the best radios. In addition, phonograph records were for the first time being recorded electrically, which improved the sound quality. Selling for as little as $50.00 (and for more than $1000.00), these machines were an instantaneous success, and rapidly brought profitability back to Victor.
The rapid expansion of the radio market caused a quick decline in the price of electron tubes and components, and by the late 1920’s, the combination electronic radio-phonograph was becoming rather popular. These machines could use the radio’s amplifier for reproducing records, and the need for the horn was replaced by the small paper-cone speaker. Fidelity was also enhanced. Some models even had sophisticated record changers, which would allow a complete symphony to be played without having to stop and manually change records. Victor entered into an agreement with RCA for the use of RCA’s electronics in Victor’s products, and produced a number of radio-phono combination sets which were rather successful. By the late 20’s, Victor’s founder, Eldridge Johnson, now a millionaire, was growing weary of the business, and decided to retire. In 1929, RCA purchased The Victor Talking Machine Company, and the new company was called “RCA Victor”. By this time, the popularity of the acoustic phonograph was rapidly diminishing in favor of the louder and more flexible electronic combination systems, and only cheap portables and children’s phonographs continued to utilize acoustic reproduction. In October 1929, the beginning of The Depression literally killed the sales of all non-essential merchandise, and not until the late 1930’s did RCA Victor again experience noteworthy sales of phonographs.
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How to Identify Old Radios
You've just acquired an old radio, but apart from the manufacturer's nameon the front, you don't know a blessed thing about it.Learning more about your radio may satisfy your curiosity, or it may servea practical purpose such as helping you get repair information. Here's howto go about it.
I can't find my radio on the Internet—does that mean it's rare?
No! The fact that your radio is not listed on the Internet (or in a book) doesn't necessarily mean that it is rare. Tens of thousands ofdifferent radio models were manufactured over the decades, in the US alone. Many thousands more weremanufactured worldwide.
No book lists all of those radios. No websitelists all of them. No combination of books and websites lists all of them. There are simplytoo many.
Honestly, most of the radios sold over those decades are not very interesting.For every rare and unusual radio, there were thousands of cheap and common radios.Many cheap and common radios are omitted from books and websites because there's nothing interesting to say about them.
Most antique radio websites, including this one, list radios that the webmaster happensto own. The world is full of interesting radios that I don't happen to own,but you won't find them mentioned here.
So, if you do an Internet search and you find no mention of your radio,don't jump to the conclusion that it's a rare treasure. The silence only means thatnobody on the Internet felt like writing aboutthat model, among the many thousands of others.
And now that we've gotten that little sermon out of the way, on to the methods foridentifying your radio . . .
Look for a manufacturer and model number
![Victor Victor](/uploads/1/1/7/7/117735171/421535837.jpg)
The normal way to identify a radio is by manufacturer and model number (for example,'Zenith 7G605' or 'Philco 42-350'). Model numbers can include any combination of letters and numbers,and they may be long or short, although most are from two to six characters in length.
There is no standardization whatsoever for model numbers. Every manufacturer was freeto make up its own scheme, and often a given manufacturer would change its numbering scheme over the years. If you browse throughour radio Gallery, you'll see plentyof diversity in these numbers.
Model numbers are often printed on a paper label attached to the back, inside, or bottomof the radio cabinet. The label usually contains other information, such as a serial number, tube diagram, or even a complete schematic diagram.
The model number may also be printed somewhere on the cabinet itself. Onmy Zenith TransOceanic H500, the number isprinted in white ink inside the hinged back cover.
One exception to the no-rhyme-or-reason rule is the Philco company,who followed a very handy numbering scheme, at least for a while. If you seea Philco radio whose model number starts with two digits and a dash, thethe first two digits indicate the year of manufacture. For example,my Philco 41-221 was made in 1941.
Many radios have a serial number in addition to a model number. Serial numbers are not useful for identification unless you havethe company's manufacturing records, which are generallynot available. (One exception is for Zenith radios. If yougo to the Zenith Oracle website, you can look up a Zenith radio by itsmodel number, serial number, or chassis number.)
Most radios list various patent numbers. These are also prettyuseless for identification. Virtually all radio makers licensed several technology patents from other manufacturers, and theywere required by law to disclose those patent licenses. That'swhy the patent numbers are shown. If you look at a bunch of oldradios, you'll see that many of them list exactly the samepatents.
Patent notices often include dates, but those do not tell youwhen the radio was made. They only indicate when the patentwas originally granted, which could be many years earlier. So apatent date merely tells you that the radio could not have beenmade before that date.
Look for a name
Some radios have a name in addition to (or, occasionally, instead of) a model number.For instance, my Crosley F5-TWE was known as the'Musical Chef,' and that name is actually printed on the front of its cabinet.
Hundreds of different names were used over the decades—everything from thepredictable ('Globetrotter') to the alliterative (Zenith 'Zenette') to the fanciful ('Phantom Baby').
The name may be handy if a collector guide happens to list your set by name instead of by model number. And, if you're communicatingwith other collectors, they may remember a name more readily than a number.
Where do I look?
Let's say that you've got the manufacturer and model number, and perhaps a name as well.The most readily available information sources are collector books and technical references,but there are other sources, too.
Collector books list thousands of radios, often with approximate values. Several are listedin Books for Radio Collectors, along with information on where to buy them.The Slusser (formerly Bunis) collector guide is one of the most popular, although it's by no means the only show in town.If you don't want to buy a collector guide just to look up one radio, perhaps your local library has a copy.
Vintage Rca Victor Radios
None of the collector guides lists every radio ever made, of course. For the reasons explained earlier, it's quite common to check the collector books and find that your radio is notlisted.
If your radio does appear in a collector guide, you'll typically find the date when it was made, a photo or abrief description, and a guesstimate as to value.Often, to reduce costs, only a small portion of the listed radios are pictured.Specialized guides, such as the Hallicrafter's book by Chuck Dachis, may include a picture of every radio listed andgive more detailed information.
If your specific model isn't listed in the guide, you may be able to guess something from similar model numbers. For example, if yours is a model Z123 (not listed), but the book lists models Z121,Z122, and Z124, all made in 1947, it's a reasonable guess that your radio was made in 1947.Similarly, if the maker of your radio went out of business in 1930, that's the latest yearwhen your set could have been made.
Technical service publications are another great source of information.These include Rider's, Sams Photofacts, Most Needed Radio Diagrams, and so on. Technical references were published for radio repair shops and they are still to be found in many public libraries. Many radio collectors have personal copies,as well. In addition to technical data, such as schematics, these references will often tell you when your radio was made.You can find thousands of schematics for free download atNostalgia Air.
Radio collectors may be able to help. If you haven't already done so,look for a radio collector club in your vicinity. The Antique Radio Classifiedwebsite has an extensive list of clubs in North America.
Internet Forums. If there's no club nearby, you can contact anInternet forum or discussion group.Before posting your first question, look for a FAQ (frequently-asked questions) topic or'For New Members' link that explains which topics are deemed relevant inthat forum. If you post an off-the-wall question in an inappropriate place,it may be ignored.
Rca Victor Radios By Year
Websites. Another, rapidly growing source of information is websites like the one you're visiting now.When I launched this site in August, 1995, there was only one other website like it in the world. Now there are dozens, with more appearing all the time. A radiowebsite might happen to show your radio, or perhaps its webmaster is willing to field your question. For example, the Radiomuseum site lists many thousands ofradios, TVs, and phonos from around the world, and the the Radio Attic archive has several thousand (mostly American) radio photos. Our radio links page lists other favorite sites.
Speaking of which—if you've tried all these channels and struck out, feel free to send me someemail. I usuallyhave time to make a quick scan of my collector books to see if a radio is listed.
Rca Victor K80 Radio
What if there's no name or model number?
Your radio may have lost its label, logo, or other identifying features. Or, perhaps itnever had obvious identifiers to begin with. You can still identifythe set, although it may take some detective work. Here are some things to look at:
- Component markings.If the outside lacks identifiers, the inside may still hold clues.Look inside the chassis—if you see the same manufacturer's name stamped on all the tubesand other components, that's a tipoff. On the other hand,it's not unusual to see a mixture of brand names on components. Many manufacturers gotcomponents from other suppliers. And radios that were repaired over the years oftenhave a random assortment of replacement parts under the hood.
- Cabinet design.Often a strong indicator of when a radio was made. The very earliest radios weretypically bare components mounted on a board. Somewhat later, many were housed in comparatively plain wooden or metal boxes.By the late 1920s, some were housed in elaborate cabinets designed to look like 'real furniture' instead of electronic gear.Cathedral and tombstone style wooden cabinets were most popular during the 1930s. The 1940s were the heyday of 'Machine Age' and other design trends. And there were brief fads for certain design elements such as mirrored glass cabinets or tuners shaped like rotary telephone dials.
- Cabinet materials.1920s radios were typically housed in wood. althoughsome tabletops came in rather plain metal cabinets.Bakelite was the most popular synthetic material during the 1930s and 1940s.Other early plastics, such as Plaskon and Beetle, predated the flood ofnew synthetics that came along during the 1950s. Wooden cabinetswere used during all periods from the 1920s to the present. Most woodencabinets were covered with veneer and the vast majority of them were finished in lacquer.
- Dial Markings.The band and frequency markings on the dialcan tell you something about a radio's age. The earliest1920s radios did not show any station numbers; instead, theirknobs were marked with numbers from 0-100 or sometimes nothingat all. If your radio has a band marked Police or Aircraft, it was probably made before World War II; those frequencies are no longer used for such communications. Shortwave radio was common from early days, but FM broadcasting wasn't developed until the 1930s. The FM band frequencies were changed after World War II, so if you have a radio that tunes FM from 42-50 megahertz rather than themodern 88-108 megahertz band, you know it was manufactured before 1942. A radio that has FM stereo was made in the late 1950s atthe earliest.Conelrad (CD) markings on the AM dial at 640 and 1240 kilohertz indicate that the radio was made between 1953 and1963.
- Tubes.Tube types changed over the years.The very oldest tubes looked more like light bulbs and had screw-type connections.Most 1920s tubes had glass envelopes and large bakelite bases with four or five pins. 1930s and 1940s tubes typically had glass or metalenvelopes and six, seven, or eight pins. Locking ('loktal') metal bases were used for a few years in the late 1940s. They were supersededin the 1950s by all-glass 'miniature' tubes with very thin pins.Keep in mind that different tube types overlapped. For example,some radios continued to use loktal or older tube types intothe 1950s. However, if your radio uses glass miniature tubes,you know it must have been made after the end of World War II,and was likely made in the 1950s or later.
- Transistors.Transistors were introduced in 1957, so every transistorradio is dated after that time. Transistors didn't becomecommon until the 1960s.
Rca Victor Pink Radio
You may need to be creative to identifyyour radio through these means. There is no single place to find all this diverseinformation, but the quest can be an enjoyable pastime in itself. In search of facts, some collectors have gone togreat lengths, dredging up forgotten company records or locating and interviewing ex-employees of long-vanished companies.