Jennifer Mueller, a historian living in Ottawa, documented the tangled history of "Ideal" and "Victoria" phonographs manufactured by the Regal Phonograph Company Limited, Toronto, Ontario in two articles published in 2006 in Antique Phonograph News - Part 1 and Part 2. This is an excerpt from Part 1 regarding the "Victoria" brand:
The Regal Phonograph Company was established in 1915 by E.A. Stevenson. Edwin Alexander Stevenson (1883-1947) was born in Ontario but began his career in Rhode Island with the sales department of the Columbia Phonograph Company in 1906. Stevenson subsequently moved to Columbia’s Toronto office. In 1915 he became a salesman with Nordheimer Piano and Music Company in the talking machine department of their Toronto store, located at 220 Yonge Street. Around the same time, Stevenson started the Regal Phonograph Co., working out of a phonograph repair shop at 43 Queen Street East. He produced a phonograph called the "Victoria", a name chosen in obvious imitation of the "Victrola".
There is very little information available about the "Victoria", other than the fact that Stevenson assembled the machines from parts purchased wholesale. It was described at the time as "a very good machine, a machine of good tone, ... and would be an ornament in any home." Unfortunately, Stevenson’s attempts to market the "Victoria" landed him in court and resulted in a conviction for fraud. Instead of finding retailers to sell the machine, Stevenson secured several women to act as agents. The agents bought the phonographs from Stevenson for $80.00. They were instructed to sell the phonographs from their homes as if they were selling a single used item. Stevenson then placed advertisements in newspapers which offered a used Victrola-style talking machine, original price $250.00, for the bargain price of $90.00. This price allowed the agents a "profit" of $10.00. Since the machine was a new "Victoria" phonograph the advertisements were fraudulent. The agents continued the deception by showing the buyer a forged receipt for the $250.00 and sometimes substituted a different machine than the one originally viewed. Stevenson was charged in March 1916 and was convicted in April. He paid $500 in bail (approximately $8,000 today) and was given a suspended sentence. Not surprisingly, Stevenson ceased to manufacture the "Victoria".
The following newspaper article from the same period refers to a similar situation with a U.S.-manufactured "Victoria":
"Charles E. Ackron, who was arrested some time ago in Brooklyn, N.Y., on the charge of securing money under false pretenses by advertising and selling as Victrolas machines labelled "Victoria" and made in a New York factory, was convicted after a short trial and was sentences on Monday of this week to life improsonment in Sing Sing. The extreme sentence was due to the fact that it was Ackron's fourth conviction for a felony, which carries with it a life term as an habitual criminal.
"The conviction is expected to discourage the operations of a growing number of what in some lines of trade are called "gyp" dealers, who sell instruments from private homes and under misleading statements regarding quality and value. Only recently another man in New York was fined $25 under the misleading advertising law for making fraudulent claims regarding the talking machines he sold. The newspapers and advertising clubs are on their trails and fraudulent dealers will probably find things a little too warm for comfort."
Jennifer Mueller's Victoria upright phonograph
Ottawa Citizen, November 23, 1918 p. 7.
Toronto Daily Star newspaper, January 25, 1922 p. 2. Display ad by Heintzman & Co. Limited, Toronto, illustrating a Victoria tabletop phonograph.
Detail of the January 25 ad.
R.S. Williams and Sons Co., Ltd. ad in the Toronto Daily Star newspaper, January 4, 1927 p. 24 listing used phonographs including a cabinet model Victoria.
Toronto Daily Star newspaper, November 16, 1928 p. 36. Display ad by Wentworth Radio and Auto Supply Co. Limited, Toronto, including the sale of a Victoria phonograph in fumed oak.
A Victoria phonograph for sale through Facebook Marketplace in Vancouver, B.C. in 2024. Submitted by Lance Husoy.
A Victoria phonograph offered for a mere $30.00 on Facebook Marketplace in Welland, Ontario in 2025. This machine has the original bill of sale dated Jan 16, 1918. Posting submitted by Angelo Raffin.
A table model Victoria phonograph sold at a CAPS auction, November 23, 2025.
