V-30
The V-30
was a basic Orthophonic floor-model machine intended for export sale.
It was introduced in September 1929, just as RCA purchased The Victor
Talking Machine Company; therefore it is technically an RCA model, but it was
designed by Victor and utilized standard Victor Orthophonic components.
A 2-spring motor was provided, along with nickel-plated hardware. By the
time the V-30 was introduced, the US market was becoming dominated by
electronic phonographs, and it is likely that Victor launched this model to
use-up leftover acoustic (Orthophonic) parts at the Camden plant, and then
shipped the completed machines to Mexico and Central America.
There is evidence that a few V-30's were sold by
rural dealers in the Southwest US, but the vast majority were
sold outside the USA. Production for this model ran only during the fall of
1929; however, due to the severely reduced sales following the onset of The
Depression in October of that year, this model remained in factory stock
(and in the RCA-Victor Export catalogs) through the end of 1931. Based on
the serial numbers of surviving examples, approximately 8,500 of these
machines were produced.
The current survival database shows the earliest existent V-30 to be S/N 684 and the latest to be S/N 8854.
Do you own a V-30? Please take a moment and enter some basic information about your machine into the collector's database by clicking here. No personal information is required.