The Victor-Victrola Page   

VV-410 / VE-410 / VV-S-410 / VE-S-410

RARITY: ¤¤   VALUE:  ¤¤ 

The VV-410 was the most expensive 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 410 featured diagonally-cut inlaid mahogany veneers in a modern Queen Anne style cabinet, gold plated hardware, an air-support lid, and a 4-spring motor. The VV-410 cabinet matched the design of the upright VV-370 model which was unsuccessfully launched one year later.
The original 1923 selling price of the VV-410 was $300.00, which equates to over $4,500.00 in today's money. Due to the high price tag, it had a limited 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 7,140 Victrola VV-410 phonographs were produced, and all were manufactured in late 1923.  A total of approximately 650 VE-410 (electrically powered) models were also made that year. The electric motor version added $40.00 to the price tag.
Approximately 1,350 "radio-adaptable" VV-S-410 models were produced during the summer of 1924; these 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-410 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 410 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 and 1924, the VV-410 continued to be listed in Victor's 1924 and 1925 product catalogs.  It is likely that all variants of the 410-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-410 to be S/N 525 and the latest to be S/N 8253
 The earliest surviving VE-410 is S/N 510 and the latest is S/N 1139  
The earliest logged VV-S-410 survivor is S/N 559 and the latest is S/N 1227
 There are no surviving VE-S-410 models currently logged in the database.

Do you own a Victrola VV-410? 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.