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Barona / VV 4-40 (Canadian) / VE 4-40 (Canadian)

RARITY: ??   VALUE:  ¤¤ 

The Barona was a deluxe console-style Orthophonic phonograph produced solely for the Canadian market. It was referred to as the VV 4-40 in most of the Canadian catalogs, but all dataplates use the Barona designation. Unfortunately, there is very little surviving data on Canadian Orthophonic machines, as factory production records have not been found. The Barona was manufactured and assembled by Victor's Montreal-based partner, The Victor Talking Machine Company of Canada. It featured a 2-spring motor, gold plated hardware, and a choice of a mahogany or walnut finish. It sold new for $225.00 CDN with a spring wound motor. Electric powered (VE) versions sold for $35.00 CDN extra.
The Barona was introduced in 1926 and was discontinued in 1928. Since virtually all the components used on this phonograph (except for some cabinet trim) are identical to those used on the US VV 4-40 model, it is very likely that this machine was a "hybrid" design intended to share some mechanical parts with its US cousin, while retaining a slightly unique design appearance. This was a common practice in the 1920's, as it could save on tooling and other production costs to serve both the US and Canadian markets. Therefore, some components were probably US-built and shipped to the Montreal plant for assembly. A correlation of serial numbers with the date of manufacture for this model is not currently possible since no production records exist, but based on serial numbers of surviving examples, it is estimated that at least 20,000 were produced.

The current survival database shows the earliest existent Barona to be S/N 621 and the latest to be S/N 19444.    

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