1918 Victrola VV-IX Table Top – Mahogany

This machine has been fully restored and sold, this is an example of previous restoration work by New England Victrola LLC

If you are interested in purchasing a Victrola like this one, please contact us for price and availability.

1918 Victrola VV-IX Table Top – Mahogany

Serial Number 404698

Restored in April 2021

The VV-IX or Victrola the Ninth, was a very popular Victrola phonograph,  it was the company’s premiere tabletop model with a closable lid and was offered in a mahogany or oak veneer finish. Its introduction in the summer of 1911 was concurrent with the launch of a wide lineup of newly-designed machines which included models such as the VV-X and VV-IV.  The IX featured a well-crafted cabinet, nickel plated hardware, a two-spring motor, and Victor’s Exhibition Soundbox. Along with nearly all of the other newly-introduced models, sales of the VV-IX were strong from the start. Production of the IX ran for more than 13 years, which was certainly a tribute to its success. It became Victor’s fourth best-selling model of all time.

The earliest VV-IX machines used simple wood baffles to direct the sound internally from the tonearm base to the downward-facing ‘slats’ at the front opening; closable ‘tone doors’ were used to control the sound volume. A full-size 12″ turntable was used. It was not until 1913 that an actual horn assembly consisting of a cast iron elbow and wood horn mouth was used internally to improve the sound volume. At the same time, the cabinet was enlarged slightly. In early 1915, small ‘feet’ were added to the cabinet (bottom left). While many of the IX model’s design features evolved over the years, it remained about the same in form and function as when it was when first introduced.

Incremental suffix letters following the serial number indicate small upgrades to the motor and/or mechanical components. The original 1911 selling price was $50.00, which equates to approximately $1,400.00 in today’s money. Per factory documentation, a total of just over 569,000 Victrola VIII models were produced. Production of the IX was likely terminated in the spring of 1924.

As with many other Victrola models, the VV-IX was a huge success for the company; but when sales of Victrolas began to slow in favor of radio, Victor failed to respond to the market changes by slowing their production rate. Therefore, in spite of lagging sales, many thousands of these machines continued to come off the assembly line, and the large network of dealers and distributors began bursting at the seams with unsold Victrolas.