The devil is in the details, or not.

[phil]

I went to an radio club meet. Came home with a deforst crosley table radio , about 1933 roughly. I liked it because it wasnt' too big and had a pretty nice deco cabinet.

also found a pretty high end sherwood FM tuner from about 1960. It isn't FM stereo but really well made. I happened to have a tube amp of the same brand that is also mono that matches it. both have the same front panel with gold plated trim. the tuner is just missing it's tin case so Ill have to make one.
shortly after it was made, FM STEREO became mainstream and most manufacturing of high end home stereo equipment went to Japan, so maybe it was put away. both are is super nice shape.this one has a real chassis with tubes and point to point wiring so it's repairable and although not stereo it probably sounds pretty good. If it were stereo it would probably be more collectable and worth more. but its still fun.

here's a pic of a similar tuner:

https://encrypted-tbn0.gstatic.com/imag ... hJBG3B6WU5

the amp I have looks something like this.
https://www.picclickimg.com/d/l400/pict ... r-Mono.jpg


a little heathkit FM tuner tagged along for free. made by heathkit. its about as basic looking as possible just a square tin box with a dial and two knobs. It was likely assembled from kit form. usually Heathkit has good info still available since users built them they went further with the documentation. not really valuable but it might be ok as a part of a little unit to recieve FM and rebroadcast it on AM for other old radios.

[Manalto]

Meanwhile, in 1948 Admiral advertised this "Triple Thrill". What's that in 2019 dollars, besides a lot ?

AdmiralTripleThrill.jpg

$5,849.74

We had a TV / phonograph / radio combo in my house growing up but I seriously doubt my parents shelled out that kind of money. I suspect the price dropped sharply in the 50s.

[Manalto]

also found a pretty high end sherwood FM tuner from about 1960. It isn't FM stereo but really well made.

Nice! I think the design of radios and electronics is interesting from the very beginning right through the 1970s. Stereo is overrated. It's really only effective if you position yourself to enjoy it. IMO, a nice rich sound is fine without the stereo component.

Phil, I'd like to see a photo of that 1933 DeForest Crosley when you have a moment.

[phil]

As a kid I remember our neighbors buying a color tv. I guess about 1971 or so. I remember my dad saying he wasn't going to buy one, they were at least a thousand, as a comparison he bought a new datsun 510 for three thousand.

I bought my present amp and tuner used. It came with a bill for about $1700.00
that was for a Kenwood, sold about the same time. It was high end but not super high end. I still use it, Its decent quality bit nothing you'd think of as particularly impressive. Today all that stuff is so cheap but the problem with it is its real junk for the most part. I hate digital tuners.

I have a Sony Am transistor portable. it was from the 50's and not the first but one of the first offshore transistor sets. still in a wood case. The price and quality of the Japanese stuff put all the north American companies right out of the marketplace.

the tube ( pre transistor) TV sets were spendy. Now there are very few collectors that will touch them. TV tubes are worthless because no one wants them. some do restore early black and white sets like the Philco Predicta but most radio collectors wont touch TV's.

The audio stuff, especially stereo tube amps has a market of it's own. A lot of it seems to go to collectors in Japan with deep pockets. Perhaps former engineers and such that still have an appreciation for that warm Tube amp sound. some audio tubes that are sought after by radio collectors end up getting high priced because of this trend. the "45" tube is a good example.

I was speaking to an elderly collector yesterday who has a radio that uses the Western electric tennis ball tubes. Maybe it's specific to certain ones but they go for prices like $250.00 apiece.

I just did a quick check.. try $1800 for one tube?
https://www.ebay.ca/itm/One-Western-Ele ... SwatddQQ8H

Western electric did make theater sound systems so maybe some audio guys go crazy over them for that? some of the audio gear really went high in price by now. Common consumer radios were plentiful and many were put away so they are still pretty reasonable. Ill take a pic of the deforest Crowley I bought , I paid $45 which was a nice price for it considering the condition. he brought an old receiver 1922 with him it had one "peanut tube". It was battery operated. it was extremely rare. we both remarked at how few collectors stopped to really look at it.
there is sort of a different following for the very old historic ones. radios made after about 1925 or so were fancier with all sorts of features and gizmos and cabinet design. radio went from a way to transmit info into home entertainment . I tend to collect earlier 30's up to 1936 (pre war) stuff because the cabinetry then reflected the labor trends. there were lots that had beautiful cabinetry.
the earlier stuff usually looks more scientific and tends to be less fancy looking but of course there were exceptions. most of the consumer radio stuff isn't in too much danger of this problem with the tubes being robbed for their high value.

the tubes last over time and most collectors never use them enough to wear them out. It can cause issues for collectors if certain tubes go really high in value but for the most part the high end audio tubes that draw money were not used in the common consumer gear. the radio collectors I know tend to be old grey haired men with 1930s mentalities who aren't going to spend fortunes but some of the "audio" crowd seem to have deep pockets. it's a status thing I guess and some musicians go crazy looking for a certain "sweet sound". Most collectors by comparison are happy to make a radio actually work again and dont expect quality sound.

one guy I spoke to showed a pic of 10 console radios all from about 1930 to 1940. He would have given the lot away. he has them covered by a tarp in his back yard now and it's rainy here. I tried to help him find takers but everyone said no please no more consoles
Usually my girlfriend has been coming but she didn't feel up to it yesterday so I joked that I had to come home with a few items to encourage her to come next time ( so she can talk me out of it lol

the problem becomes space. They get so they aren't worth the real estate to store them unless they have some particularly nice feature. I like to think that will change one day and that there will be a renewed appreciation of antiques but it seems we are at an all time low now. will it change? its a shame to see 1930's stuff still going to the garbage but lots is . maybe someone with a giant barn can make something on them over time.

[Manalto]

Today I found a porch light for the workshop in the back yard. I'm trying to pay particular attention to the details of this building because it's smack in the middle of the view out the bank of six windows in the back of the house. It's small - cast iron, from a 1920 Tudor Revival house. I like its simplicity and thought the slag glass would give it a mellow appearance.

[GinaC]

Oh James, I am so jealous! My little house has something similar (from 1939) above the front door, and I would very much like another.

[Manalto]

They can be found, Gina. Keep an eye on Craigslist and eBay and one will pop up that you like. Cast iron fixtures seem to be a little pricey these days; I don't keep track of that sort of thing but I suspect it's because they are trendy.

[phil]

there are lots of chinese cast iron repros too.. so be careful what you pay online because it's hard to tell. I'm not saying the one James found isn't old. Some of the Chinese knockoff ones have distressed paint and whatnot that makes them look really believable. I'm wondering if it is old if it was mica and was replaced with glass? you can still get mica in sheets and I keep thinking it would be fun to use some nice wood, maybe dark walnut or mahogany , brass and mica to make up some that are sort of craftsman or arts and crafts style since really they look quite simple as was the style. I saw some freestanding upright wooden ones that were pretty neat.

[Manalto]

Spotted on Craigslist in the NYC area:



Reported to be from a turn of the twentieth century house. There are enough tiles to trim a good-sized bathroom

[Gothichome]

Very nice, are you on route to pick them up.
One of the other posters found a larger quantity of the same style tiles but hers did not have any colours. Corcetiere maybe, I can’t remember.