In a Nutshell
My second full restoration of this milestone radio, working and in mint condition

Introduction:
RCA had been a selling agency for radio makers General Electric and Westinghouse. Victor Talking Machine Co. had been founded in 1901 by gramophone pioneers Berliner and Johnson. In the 1920's people started to abandon listening to phonographs and tried, with their early battery sets, to tune-in all the new radio stations. RCA had started its Radiola line of radios in 1924 with an unprecedented advertising campaign. But in the following 2 years Victor was still able to counter-attack with its very successful Electrola and Orthophonic Victrola lines of gramophones. So, it was not about radio or gramophone, it was about having both, and so Victor collaborated with RCA to build Radiola-Victrola and -Electrola combo consoles.
The VE7-26X was and is a fairly popular radio-gramophone combination, introduced in late 1928. It uses RCA's Radiola 18, introduced on April 1928 as one of the first AC powered radios and one of the last TRF (Tuned Radio-Frequency) receivers, together with a Victor Electrola gramophone. The speaker is a RCA model 100A, the same as recommended for early Radiola 18s. The wonderful wall type high-boy cabinet is made from walnut with black banded front, ornate metal speaker grille with acorn-leaf pattern, and turned legs. Centerpiece is the gramophone compartment with its concealed automatic lamp and two record storage compartments on either side. The 4 albums bound in colored buckram with gold stampings are specific for this model; mine are all-original and in hard-to-believe mint condition. The spines are labeled AUSTIN LUCIA VOL.I, MARVIN ZIEGFELD VOL.II, AFRICANA LISZT VOL.III, and MELBA ZANELLI VOL.IV. The Electrola was used in a number of late 1920's Victor sets including the 1929 RE-45 console (ref.4, sold) and has Victor's brushless induction disc motor and an automatic brake, that relies on a records last groove to be eccentric. The tonearm is made from the same parts as used for the same sets with an acoustic orthophonic Victrola, the head however hosting a horseshoe magnet electro-magnetic pickup. The 1928 selling price of the induction motor version 7-26 was $460.00, more than a Ford A Roadster. The Radiola 18 alone sold for $125. Only about 16'000 7-26 have been produced, that is 7 times less than the number of RE-45 (ref.5) and 30 times less than the number of Ford A Roadsters, which today sell for around $20 Grand. So, the 7-26 should be worth more than half a million?

Additional information:
  ref.1:    http://www.radio-antiks.com/IndexRadio-Antiks_Victrola_VE7-26X.htm
     and    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DydsOElcaes
  ref.2:    http://www.radiomuseum.org/r/rca_7_26.html
  ref.3:    http://www.davidsarnoff.org/vtm-chapter8.html
  ref.4:    http://www.radio-antiks.com/IndexRadio-Antiks_Victor_RE-45.htm
  ref.5:    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xqr3gs6Xyds
  ref.6:    http://www.victor-victrola.com/Production%20Volumes.htm

About my Radiogram:
This set does not carry a Canadian distributor's sign, unlike my first 7-26 (Mason & Rich, ref.1); it therefore likely came from USA into Canada. It is in mint condition with 6 of the 7 tubes of globe type selected from my stock. As already mentioned (ref.s 1,4) these pickups need all to be rebuilt, having very small but essential rubber parts that have stiffened and brittled over time. Mine however still has a working original pickup coil with the correct impedance. Often also the magnet has to be re-magnetized. The radio and the Electrola play fine, as can be seen in a new youtube video (ref.5 or click on thumbnail 52). What sets this set apart from my first one, are the 4 record albums, this time all-original (the first one's were reproductions) and in mint condition:
  -  complete with all 48 record sleeves with no fraying of lower edges
  -  beige woven linen covers clean and unsoiled
  -  perfect buckram spines with golden stampings and 3D raised hubs
  -  virgin front inside title indices, with no writings or marks.

Please e-mail me (Kris) for any questions, ich spreche Deutsch, je parle Français.

For pedants only:
The radio's tuning escutcheon has the shape as used in the Radiola 17, but is inscribed as a Radiola without number supplied to Victor Talking Machine (pict.18). The chassis also has a number AR-744, that differs from a Radiola 18 (AR-936) and a Radiola 17 (AR-927) chassis', which are otherwise very similar.

Here are the specifications:

Please have a look at prices and more radios, phonographs and gramophones  here