The Victor-Victrola Page   

VV-400 / VE-400 / VV-S-400 / VE-S-400

RARITY: ¤¤   VALUE:  ¤¤ 

The VV-400 was one of three "Art Case" flat-top console style Victrolas that were introduced in the summer of 1923.  These models, the VV-400, VV-405 and VV-410 were concurrently launched at a time when phonograph sales were  slowing. Home radios had started to appear at retail dealers and were drawing away many Victrola customers.   Victor launched these three new products in an attempt to bolster their sagging sales for the coming Christmas season. The previously-introduced flat-top console Victrolas (such as the VV-210) had been successful for the past few years, so it made sense to offer some new variations on the flat-top designs for affluent buyers.
The 400 featured diagonally-cut mahogany veneers in a modern cabinet style with thin carved legs, gold plated hardware, an air-support lid, and a 4-spring motor. The VV-400 cabinet matched the design of the upright VV-350 model which was unsuccessfully launched one year later.
The original 1923 selling price of the VV-400 was $250.00, which equates to $3,800.00 in today's money. It was a moderate success in the marketplace; but as was typical for Victor's production planning at that time, more machines were produced than could be sold.
An estimated total of 12,300 Victrola 400's were produced; all were manufactured in late 1923.  Approximately 570 VE-350's (electric powered) models were also made that year. The electric motor version added $40.00 to the price tag.
Approximately 1,350 "radio-adaptable" model VV-S-400 models were produced during the summer of 1924; these machines provided a dedicated space for mounting a small aftermarket radio on the left-hand side of the cabinet. In addition, approximately 640 electrically-powered radio-adaptable VE-S-400 versions were produced. The radio-adaptable versions were priced at $265.00 (spring motor) and $305.00 (electric motor). It is highly probable that these radio-adaptable machines were simply factory conversions of left-over VV/VE 400 series cabinets which had remained in storage at the Camden plant.
As was the case for most of the higher-priced Victrolas launched in 1923, the VV-400 continued to be listed in Victor's 1924 and 1925 product catalogs.  It is likely that all late-production variants of the 400-series models were eventually sold during Victor's well-advertised "half-price" sale during the summer of 1925. For more information on Victor's financial crisis of 1924-1925 and the overproduction of phonographs, please click here.

The survival database currently shows the earliest existent VV-400 to be S/N 518 and the latest to be S/N 12817
 The earliest surviving VE-400 is S/N 610 and the latest is S/N 864  
The earliest logged VV-S-400 survivor is S/N 573 and the latest is S/N 1812
 The earliest surviving VE-S-400 is S/N 655 and the latest is S/N 767

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