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Victor IV

RARITY:  ¤¤  VALUE:  ¤¤¤ 

The Victor IV was an upper-mid-range external horn phonograph in Victor's early product lineup.  It was introduced in 1903 at the time when Victor began using Roman numeral designations for their machines, replacing the confusing and overlapping letter designations for different models. The Victor IV's predecessor, the Victor MS, was then slowly phased-out of production, and by 1905, the Victor III was the only model remaining in this price range. Early Victor IV machines were essentially a clone of the late Victor MS, and during the 1904-1905 period, both models were coming off the assembly line with mostly similar components.
The Victor IV was a substantial product. It featured a 10-inch turntable and a powerful double-spring motor with a Tapered Arm configuration.  It sold new for $50.00, which equates to approximately $1,750.00 in today's money. The IV was one of the very few external-horn machines with a standard mahogany cabinet (shared only with the "top-of-the-line" Victor VI), although a few oak examples have turned-up from the first months of production. A stamped steel and brass horn was standard along with an Exhibition Soundbox.  Buyers could also opt for a black painted "flower" horn or several different variations of wood horns for a few dollars more.  Several minor design improvements for the motor and controls were made in the following years. The picture at left shows a post-1905 version with the optional flower horn.
It should be noted that there was a great deal of "design overlap" between the later versions of the Victor MS and early Victor IV models, many of which shared identical components. Early examples of the IV have turned-up with the "MS" style decorated cabinet in both oak and mahogany finishes. This is likely due to the fact that the factory was churning-out these machines (and using-up available parts) without much regard for product continuity or model positioning at a time when demand for phonographs was growing at a frenzied pace. In addition, the huge factory fire of April 1904 destroyed past production files along with thousands of machine cabinets, components and serial number tags.  When production came back into operation, it is quite possible that they produced these machines using any serial number tags that they could salvage.
The standard finish for these models was red mahogany, but oak Victor IV's are considered highly collectible, since so few were produced in the early months of production.
Serialization and date estimates for the IV is a near-impossible challenge to quantify. Based on surviving examples, it appears that the IV's serial numbers started-off around s/n 19000, which was approximately where the MS serial numbers ended.  Serial numbers were subsequently reset back to "1" or "501" at least once between 1906 and 1909. It is reasonable to assume that at least 50,000 machines were made until the IV was discontinued in the early 1920's. By that time, the majority of Victor IV's were being shipped to foreign markets.


There is not currently a reliable correlation estimate between serial number and production dates for this model, but the following guidelines will apply:

- The majority of Victor IV models are designated (on the dataplate) as "Type Vic IV"
- The final (latest production) group is designated (on the dataplate) as "Type V-IV"
- Victor IV phonographs with the highly decorated 'gingerbread trim' MS-style cabinet were made in 1903-1904
- Victor IV phonographs with the later-style cabinet (above left) and no suffix letter after the serial number were made between 1904 and 1912.
- Machines with a suffix letter after the serial number follow this approximate sequence:

The current survival database shows the earliest existent Victor IV to be S/N 269 and the latest to be S/N 49487

Do you own a Victor IV? 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.