[78-L] Mystery Turntable

[David Lewis]

My friend Dave (not on this list) wrote me:

I have recently inherited an old phonograph my grandma had - I'd played it all the time as a child in the 1960s-70s, and periodically ever since - it works fine (though a little slower to spool up to speed now than I recall). I'd talked about it with my grandma in the past couple years, as she'd tried to get me to take it home for ages. She referred to it as a victor I think, so I always assumed that's what it was. But it has no listening-dog, no stamps on the arm or decals on the 13.5" bi-metal horn with (8.5"mouth), so if it is a Victor it's probably very early. Also she has a ton of old Victor releases (#42 is the earliest), and others called the devices Victrola's so it may have been a generic term. The 9.75" square base handles 10" records, and appears to be stained oak, with dove-tailed corner joints. Green felt table, side crank. No visible controls other than crank and brake. No studs, nothing on the top of the box (Steve Jobs would have LOVED this thing!). I've included a some photos below.
It looks a little like an Oxford, but those were late enough to have the dog or at least Victor stamped in the metal parts. I've taken the horn and arm completely apart, and there's no makers mark at all... my grandparents and their parents were pretty cheap (good Germans!), so it could have been some kind of early knock off. But here's the thing: a number of her records are german marches, race music, etc, and many pre-1910 Victor and Columbia titles in the pile of records. That suggests it belonged to my great-grandpa/grandma (somewhat unlikely, though the content would have fit my German-speaking 2nd generation great-grandpa), or my grandma's aunt or grandma (much more likely - they were into music, had fun, but were also German, still their tastes evolved considerably over the collection). My grandma was born in 1920, and got married in 1938 so it may have been a present or inheritance from her aunt. To my understanding she was a little better off in the Depression, so more likely to have had the means to buy an early phonograph and keep it stocked with music.
I have put up his pictures of this machine at: https://app.box.com/s/ahh6r1wuzi6wi7t785cf
Can anyone help?
Uncle Dave Lewis
uncledavelewis at hotmail.com