[radiotvnut]

OK, it pays to be a user of facebook. More importantly, it pays to "like/become friends" with all the local flea market/antiques dealers who post pictures on facebook.

Early last week, one of the local antique malls posted the following Crosley "book" radio on their facebook page. It seems like the really good ones always turn up at the end of the month, when my funds are extremely limited; but, I sent the owner a message and asked how much and she said $70. I've done business with her before and I asked her to hold it for me; which, she agreed to do. I ended up putting $20 down for her to put it on lay-a-way for me and I picked it up today. It turns out to be a model 148; and, as can be seen, something made a nest in it and someone replaced the original electrodynamic speaker with a PM speaker. Eventually, I'd like to find an original type speaker for the radio. The cabinet needs a good cleaning and some of the covering needs to be reglued; but, I think it's restorable and I think I did good for $70.

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The second radio, a '36 RCA 6T2 tombstone, was the result of another local resell shop posting it on their facebook page. I asked about the price, was told that it was $60, and I picked it up Friday. This radio looks very restorable, with some minor veneer damage along the bottom. The chassis looks to have been worked on very little and is not a hack job mess like so many of them are. This RCA looks to be very well made and I'm sure it will perform well.

In my area, radios such as these rarely turn up; and, when they do, the owners think they are sitting on a goldmine. Most of what I find in my area is stuff from the '40's and later.

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[Paul Philco322]

The RCA will be a player!

Paul

[BrendaAnnD]

At least it looks like they used a real choke in that Crosley, instead of a resistor.

[Jayce]

Two very nice finds and a good tip to boot. I've started doing the same, liking different resale shops in my area on Facebook as I find them. No jewels yet, but it can happen.

[Arran]

The whole Facebook thing wouldn't work around here, most of the junk/antique dealers seem more interesting in collecting then selling, and the ones that are interested in selling don't bother with the internet at all. The last thing I saw for sale in terms of novelty radios was a Guild Country Bell for $70, it's in so so condition, and I wouldn't pay anywhere near that for it given how common they are, neither will anyone else since they still have it.
As I mentioned on you tube at least whoever replaced the speaker had enough of a mind to use a proper choke instead of a large power resistor, some people think they can use a pi filter in a 10 tube console with push pull outputs. You can get away with that in a five tube set but the current load gets higher with tube count and so does the voltage drop.
Regards
Arran