Hello Everyone,
Here is an update on our Mystery Victor III. First, we would
like to thank everybody who emailed us with advice and help! You are all
wonderful!
We were emailed off list about what we now know we really
have. It turns out that back in the day, Victor made special custom made
cabinet styles for the ultra wealthy. When you are that wealthy, you could get
pretty much anything you wanted including a gold Victor with hand painted
figures on the sides and all gold plated hardware! The style is called
Vernis-Martin and was apparently pretty popular with those who could afford it.
The different columns, cabinet style and color were all a special order, which
now makes perfect sense. The patent plate was originally on the inside so that
it wouldn’t cover the flowers. We were wondering why there were no extra
pinholes anywhere on the outside of the cabinet. Now we know.
We assumed correctly that the machine had been re-painted
during its lifetime and unfortunately, the person who “restored” it painted
fresh gold paint right over the original finish and the hand painted
decorations! Once we cleaned the cabinet up, you could clearly see a mandolin,
sheet music and roses with leaves under the topcoat of paint. You can also see
the original bright gold leaf under the ugly new paint. We are in the process
of finding an expert in restoring these types of finishes and getting a formal
appraisal.
It is a good thing we were contacted about this when we
were. We were all set to strip the cabinet and refinish it last weekend! What a
disaster that would have been. Below is a link to see the machine running for
the first time. The machine had two broken springs that we just replaced along
with a good motor cleaning. I tried to get a good shot of the mandolin on the
left side of the cabinet. I hope you can see it through the paint on Youtube.
Please note that the original crank is missing from this machine so we borrowed
one from our other Victor III.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NQobeO-HfLw&feature=youtu.be
We are thrilled to own such a rare machine and it is going
to stay in our collection for a while before we ever consider selling it. We
certainly want to make it look as nice as we possibly can while still keeping
it as original as possible.
We will send a post when we find an expert to remove that
top layer of paint and try to restore the images underneath. What we thought
was a frankenphone turned out to be something special. You never know what
you’re going to come across at an auction!
Happy Hunting. J
Melissa and Nick
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