1916 Victrola VV-XVII – Mahogany

Pending Restoration – Purchase now and secure this machine prior to its restoration.

1916 Victrola VV-XVII – Mahogany

Serial Number 5818

The VV-XVII or “Victrola the Seventeenth” was Victor’s ‘premium’ phonograph listed in the company’s 1916-1921 product catalogs.  This was an attempt to find a market ‘niche for wealthy buyers who wanted an exceptionally elegant phonograph in their home.
Introduced  in the fall of 1916 the VV-XVII was certainly an elegant and impressive machine with its bombe’ style curved cabinet and nicely carved corner posts and nicely-figured brown or red mahogany.  Circassian or American Walnut was available for an additional $50 upcharge.  The base price of the XVII was set at $250.00, which equates to almost $6,000.00 in today’s money.

The new XVII was certainly a beautiful Victrola and by 1919 the catalog list price of the XVII had risen to $300.00.  The trend away from high-end machines and toward more ‘value priced’ models limited sales. While a total of approximately 20,700 VV-XVII machines were manufactured, this turned-out to be more than could be sold in the near-term. Many remained sitting in factory inventory waiting for orders. While production of cabinets for the XVII got off to a roaring start, output had slowed markedly upon the onset of the US involvement in World War One (April 1917); and shipping summaries indicate that as of mid-1918, the factory had shipped only 12,000 complete VV-XVII models, likely leaving about 8,700 cabinets stocked-away in plant storage waiting to be finished, assembled and ordered. This remaining inventory then slowly ‘trickled out’ to dealers well into 1921.