What is it with all the REALLY obscure Fisher consoles turning up this week? (See also Scstocks' 1961 Executive V in the
Fisher Consoles 1959-1965 sticky above.) Yours is yet another whose existence is only proven by the examples that keep turning up. It's a
1959 Provence II which was probably also known - confusingly - as a
Medalist II. They way Fishers were sold in the 50s was first by "Series" (in your case, Medalist II) which denoted the level of equipment - chassis, changer, speakers, etc. - and secondarily by which cabinet it came in (in your case, the Provence). The "M" at the end of your model number indicates the wood/finish of the cabinet (in your case Mahogany - my personal favorite).
Perhaps the Provence II was a special model offered through one of Fisher's higher volume dealers like Liberty Music in New York. Or possibly it was a very short production run that didn't make it into any of the three known versions of the '59 catalog or even into the one known price list from early that model year (dated Oct. 1958). I only know its model name from the chassis database compiled by the Fisher Professor. I'll have to ask him if he has any more information on your model the next time I talk to him.
A few years ago there was what I believe to have been a Provence II listed on Craigslist just down the road from me in Fredericksburg, Va. They had the chassis listed erroneously as an R-305 and were asking, I thought, quite a high price. Foolishly, I didn't even contact them to see if the price was negotiable. I think the R-30S is one of Fisher's more interesting chassis from the early stereo period. I prefer its horizontal dial layout over the similar 610-ST. Plus it has the tuning eye and proper 8 and 16 ohm speaker taps. I also like the way the ferrite rod AM antenna is mounted high above the RF shield so that it can be rotated. It reminds me of a radar antenna on a Cold War era destroyer.
I recently acquired an R-30S myself in my
"dream console", a '59 Contemporary II. There was another Provence II that surfaced here at AK about a year ago but I don't think there were any pictures to prove that it really existed. I'm looking forward to seeing some of yours - the Fisher console equivalent of Bigfoot. In addition to our consoles, Fisher also used the R-30S in the '59 Normandy II console (Custom Electra II Series) for which there is at least catalog proof of its existence. Then there is the most obscure Fisher chassis of all (from the early stereo period): the R-31S, used only in the 1960 Ambassador III as far as I know. I believe the only difference between the R-30S and R-31S is that the latter has jacks for adding a multiplex decoder, a feature conspicuously absent on the R-30S.
Where and how did you acquire yours? Do you know anything about its ownership history? I presume you don't have any documentation since that probably would have given you the model name. I wonder if there's any chance yours originally came from either Fredericksburg, Va. or Lancaster County, Pa. (where the previous AK Provence II owner identified himself as being located).