HMV 102 dating

Q&A about Talking Machines from the pre-electronic era (approx. 1885-1928).



Topic author
toh
Junior Member
Posts: 15
Joined: Wed Jul 29, 2009 9:50 pm

HMV 102 dating

by toh » Fri May 21, 2010 12:40 am

Hello (again). I registered to this forum about a year ago but I haven't been around much. Back then I asked about a HMV 101 which I had just acquired. Now I have crossed paths with a model 102. I would like to know approximately when this example has been made and also would appreciate any other help with it. It appears to be in good condition apart from the very strong smell of perfume :shock: and the handle from which the leather is peeling off. Also the crome finish is a little damaged on the tone arm where it attaches to the sound box. I don't have any pics yet but I hope to be able to add some tomorrow. It is the usual black version and came with a box of needles and it even has the original key. By making a quick web search I found some pointers which might help dating the machine. Firstly, it has a No. 16 sound box. The web sources don't quote the exact years when it was in use, however. Also (fortunately) it still has the record tray which is lost in many examples of 102, according to what I have read. The tray has legs and there are the corresponding pegs on the motor board. I also read that the braking system was more complicated in early machines but I don't know which one this has although it seems complicated enough for me. One additional feature which I stumbled upon and which might be of signifigance is the number of screws on the motor board. This has 7. Finally, there is a date scraped on the motor board under the platter. It reads "20/9 37" which presumably means 20th of September 1937 but it might be anything and not related to the manufacturing date.

I would be very grateful of any help. Thanks in advance.

Timo

PS. What ever happened to Steve's forum at http://www.gramophones.proboards.com/ ? I joined there and followed the discussions with great interest for a while but suddenly the forum vanished without a warning. I get an error message every time I try the address. Was it moved?


Joe_DS
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Location: San Francisco, California, USA

Re: HMV 102 dating

by Joe_DS » Fri May 21, 2010 6:01 pm

Steve would probably be able to answer your questions re the HMV 102.

The Gramophone board's URL was changed some time ago. The (so far as I know) current) address is -- http://ukgramophones.proboards.com/ (It also appears at the bottom of Steve's posts.)

Viewing and posting on the board is restricted to members only, so you may have to re-join.

HTH,
JDS


Topic author
toh
Junior Member
Posts: 15
Joined: Wed Jul 29, 2009 9:50 pm

Re: HMV 102 dating

by toh » Fri May 21, 2010 7:33 pm

Thanks for the address. After the old forum stopped working I temporarily losed interested in the subject due to other commitments so I didn't come to think to check here. And it has been very slow on the gramophone front for me anyway, at least until now.

I'll go to Steve's forum with my questions.

Timo

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