Oxford Talking Machine, Type LE for sale

Here's a curiosity of collecting, a machine that's so rare that most collectors have never seen one (it's the first one of these that I have owned in over 50 years), yet so obscure that it doesn't sell for an enormous premium relative to its scarcity.

This little oak gem with an 8 inch turntable appears in the 1911 Sears catalogue as an Oxford Talking Machine, Type LE. It is the most modestly priced Oxford, yet in spite of its low price I doubt Sears sold very many of these. I've seen plenty of Oxfords with a ten inch turntable, such as the AW Oxford with wooden horn, but for inexplicable reasons very few of these turn up.

The cute little wooden case resembles the case of a Victor Junior, minus the Victor decal. This is because-- well, by gosh, this is because it IS the Victor Junior case. Victor tried to keep their association with Oxford (and Zon-o-Phone) quiet, but in fact this machine employs the Junior case, the same motor, and an unmarked variant of a Victor Exhibition reproducer.

The Oxford back bracket was a one piece assembly incorporating the elbow into the design. The horn was secured by a button built into the elbow and a slot in the horn, the opposite of regular Victor branded machines, although this system was also used on English Victor.

This is a nice, clean, running, working machine. I do not have the horn. You can see what the horn looked like from the illustration in the 1911 Sears catalogue, which I have included in the images.

You can't order one from Sears anymore, but now is your chance to secure one here!

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Lynn Bilton
Box 435
Randolph,OH 44265
330 325-7866

We buy, sell, and repair antique phonographs and music boxes.

Pick-up and delivery possible in many parts of the midwest,south, and northeast.