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Addison Tombstone |
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This is a cute little Addison tombstone purchased from another collector. It
had a bad finish on it, so I did refinish it. The front of the case is mahogany,
with the top and sides being walnut. It's a 5-tube resistance line cord or "curtain burner"
set. I've also seen this radio listed under Admiral and Knight.
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Apex 32 Cathedral |
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This is a beautiful Apex 32 cathedral radio. I believe this radio
was manufactured by US Radio and Television in Marion, Indiana. I purchased
this radio off e-Bay, and it has a wonderful original finish. This is
simply a beautiful radio, with many varying hardwood veneers on the case...awesome!
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Atwater Kent 856 |
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I bought this AK Tombstone for $30 at the May, 2004 IHRS meet. It was
in pretty bad shape, but after a lot of work refinishing it, the radio looks
quite nice now. Read about the restoration.
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Avalon Cathedral |
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I found this 4-tube TRF at an antique mall - it's a wonderful little
cathedral. I've touched up some of the brown trim, other than that, I've
left the case alone. It's in decent shape, and has some interesting shading
effects in the lacquer - something that would be near impossible to refinish
properly.
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Austin Cathedral |
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This beautiful radio was a swap meet purchase. It's been refinished, and
works fine. These seem to be pretty uncommon - I thought it was made in Austin, TX,
but the schematic lists Los Angeles as the place of manufacture. The grille
has an "A" in it, though I prefer to think that it looks like the Eiffel Tower. Either
way, this is an awesome radio.
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Concord Tombstone |
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This five tube tombstone is a recent antique mall purchase. It's already been refinished, and it
looks pretty good. This radio has a variety of different veneers on it, including
birdseye maple and walnut. I suspect this is a Belmont radio with a "generic"
tag on it.
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Coronado C6D18 |
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This Coronado is very similar to Belmont and Airline radios of the time. In
fact, they were probably all made by the same company and simply marketed
under different names. This is all original and works well!
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Crosley 5V1 |
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This Crosley was in need of some help when I bought it on e-Bay.
The case had veneer damage and of course needed to be refinished. I think
it turned out beautifully. The case has zebrawood, walnut and rosewood (?) veneers.
Read about the restoration here.
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Crosley 179, "Dual Seventy"  |
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| This Crosley was purchased off of e-Bay during the summer of 2006,
and is also known as
the "Dual Seventy". I had been looking for one for
years. The cabinet has a slight veneer chip on the top edge, and the set was
refinished. I've decided to leave it "as is" for now, although I may refinish
it sometime in the future. The cabinet front is veneered with Nyssa wood, which seems
to be quite uncommon. Click the brochure to the right, or picture to left for
larger images. |
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Crosley 515, 1934 |
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This Crosley was a real basket case when I bought it on e-Bay.
The radio was completely refinished, and restored electronically.
The radio
works pretty well and looks wonderful. Read about the restoration.
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Crosley 713 |
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This is a beautiful 7-tube Crosley tombstone which was purchased
off e-Bay. The radio has black accents with striking grain around the edges.
The top and sides are toned lacquer. The entire radio is set off nicely with
a chrome dial bezel. The tuning knob is a two handled
chrome affair, with black accents. Click the picture to the left for a full size
picture, and a copy of the advertisement for this radio.
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Crosley Fiver |
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This is a small five tube tombstone style radio from the later 1930's.
The radio is pretty plain, but does have a very nice mirrored dial. I purchased
this radio in the summer of 2002 in Columbus, Wisconsin. It needed to be
refinished, which I finally accomplished in the summer of 2003! It retains
its original grille cloth, and is a nice looking radio.
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Delco 1106, 1935 |
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This Delco was completely refinished, and restored electronically.
I actually used two radios to make one complete, restored unit. The radio
works great and sounds wonderful. Read about the restoration.
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Delta DeLuxe |
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This is a cute wood radio. It was in very poor shape as found
but both the cabinet and the electronics have been restored. Read about the restoration.
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DeWald 701, 1938 |
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I love the look of this DeWald...3 knobs, 6 pushbuttons, and a
big, gold stationized dial with brass trim. Lovingly restored from
a basket case... read about the restoration.
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Emerson AX-212 |
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This Emerson has a beautiful Ingraham cabinet. It was purchased
on e-Bay during the summer of 2005. It's a very small, yet stunningly
beautiful radio. This example has its original finish.
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Emerson DB-347, 1941 |
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This Emerson has a beautiful Ingraham cabinet. It was purchased
at a local antique mall, and required a refinishing and a touch of veneer
work. It's very similar to the model 351 below.
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Emerson DB-351, 1941 |
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This Emerson has a beautiful Ingraham cabinet. It was purchased
on e-Bay in the summer of 2003 and refinished. The radio turned out
spectacular! The quality of the Ingraham cabinets is wonderful.
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Emerson 34 |
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This beautiful little Emerson tombstone was purchased at an antique
mall in Sauk City, WI, in the winter of 2003. It has a great original
finish, and supposedly is in an Ingraham cabinet. Note the wonderful
shading effects on the trim and wood case, these would be almost impossible
to replicate if the radio needed to be refinished.
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Emerson 561 |
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This Emerson has a beautiful Ingraham case.
It's certainly more "modern" than many others, and I believe it to be post-war.
I carefully refinished this radio, and it turned out beautifully. It's one of my favorite
radios now. I also have the brown bakelite version.
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Emerson 713 |
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This is a pretty little post-war Emerson that some call the "Sunburst". This radio is more often
seen in a plastic case, coming in several different colors. I like this wood
version, which came to me needing a refinish. I think it turned out beautifully.
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Firestone S-7403-3, 1939 |
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This Firestone was purchased in 2001 from an antiques shop.
It needed complete restoration. The radio has been refinished. I like the handle,
as if to indicate portability - though it has no battery power. Read about the restoration.
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General Electric L-633, 1942 |
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This GE radio sports a beautiful Ingraham cabinet made of
multiple walnut veneers with wonderful curves. Many GE radios are
sort of blah, this is one of their best. This radio was purchased
on e-Bay in January of 2004 for $20! It was in poor shape when it arrived,
requiring refinishing. This cabinet got the whole package -- strip,
sand, grain fill, multiple coats of clear lacquer, and a serious rubbing
out. The end result is beautiful!
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General Electric L-660, 1941 |
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I picked up this great General Electric at a local antique mall. It almost looks like
someone took an in-dash stereo out of a 1950's era car and jammed it into a walnut
case. The chrome face plate, with the pushbuttons looks just fantastic. The speaker
on the radio faces up out of the top. |
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General Electric M-63 |
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This GE was purchased at the 2004 MARC Lansing show, and it was the find of the
meet for me! This is an incredibly rare radio, and this is the only example I have
seen in years of collecting. The radio was carefully refinished, as it was in poor shape
when purchased.
Read about the restoration.
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General Television 49 |
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I picked up this General
Television radio at a local antique mall. It was painted white at the
time, but has since been stripped and restored to its original finish. |
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Grunow 450, 1934 |
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I bought this Grunow off e-Bay in 2003. I finally got around to
refinishing it in the fall of 2004 (it looked awful). I also had the chrome re-done, though
it didn't quite turn out as well as I would have hoped. I did go ahead
and buy a repro dial scale (these are almost always worn off), but didn't
like how new it looked. The grillecloth is original. A very nice little radio! |
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Grunow 570 |
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I bought this Grunow at Lansing, 2004. When I first saw this radio,
my heart skipped a little. The cabinet looked awful, but underneath, I could
see a symphony of fine veneers, particularly a beautiful straight grained
walnut in concert with chevron-style satinwood. All this was set off
with black trim. The finish was awful, but I wanted it. I kept looking, though,
but finally, late in the day I snapped it up for $30. After refinishing,
the radio looks beautiful...don't you agree? |
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Howard 307 |
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This Howard was purchased in Madison, WI, during the summer of 2003. I refinished
the top, as well as the trim on the top and bottom. This radio has photofinish
strips along the sides, so that part of the radio was not stripped, it was just
restored. The grille cloth is a replacement, I love the big gold dial! This
is a very pleasing radio to look at.
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Majestic Cathedral |
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This is a very nice looking Majestic cathedral radio from the smart-set line. I bought
this at the IHRS fall meet in 2005. The cabinet has a nice original finish. The chassis
in these radios sits on end, vertically!
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Majestic Extension Speaker |
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OK, this isn't a radio...but a rare Majestic chrome front extension speaker,
in perfect original condition. It's a beautiful, small speaker which
Majestic manufactured at the same time as their chrome front radios. It has
a wonderful original finish.
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Majestic 44, "Duo Chief", 1933 |
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This is a nice little radio, purchased off e-Bay. The grille is aluminum, so
they don't rust. The cases on these are very cheap, they just fall apart.
I also have the more "Deco" version with black trim, but it has yet to be
restored.
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Majestic 55, "Duette", 1933 |
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Another beautiful Majestic chrome front radio....I won't rest until I've
got them all! This was an e-Bay purchase, it's been refinished
and looks quite nice. The black trim perfectly sets off the birdseye
maple cabinet..the radio originally cost $35.50.
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Majestic 161 |
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This is another beautiful chrome front Majestic radio. This one was purchased in a sad
state off of e-Bay, and restored. It's a very, very rare radio that isn't seen often,
and rarely comes up for sale. It has since become one of my favorite
chrome front radios. Read about the restoration here.
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Majestic 291, 1932 |
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| One of my favorites! This Majestic was found in an antique mall
during the summer of 2002. It retains
its original finish.....and it works, too! An impressive looking and
beautifully styled radio. Click the ad to the right to see the entire
ad for this radio. |
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Majestic 311, 1932 |
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| This Majestic is a beautiful, gothic styled tombstone. It has a
reasonably nice original finish, and plays well. For the photo,
I borrowed the knobs from my Majestic 291 above, as this radio does
not currently have the correct knobs on it.Click the ad to the right to see the entire
ad for this radio. |
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Majestic 461, "Master Six", 1933 |
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This is a nice tombstone radio from the 1933 Majestic lineup. It features a
6-tube chassis, matched butt walnut front, and a chromium grille. Unlike
models 44 and 55 above, this is real chrome - not aluminum. The current
picture shows the radio with the wrong knobs, though I have finally found
some correct ones. Just need to take a new picture...
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Majestic 463 "Century Six", 1933 |
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| This Majestic is a beautiful, chome front tabletop radio.
This radio gets my award as one of the most difficult to refinish out there.
The top and sides are deep, dark brown, but the toned lacquer is destroyed
on most, showing the cheap wood underneath. Replicating this brown color
took a lot of time and effort (most toners are too red). Mixing some green
toner (van dyke brown) worked well to "brown" the reddish toners down a bit. The
chrome was replated...it's a beautiful thing. Sorry about the reflection
in the chrome! |
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Philco Jr. |
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This Philco Jr (model 80 or 81) came from a swap meet for $35. It needed
to be refinished, and needed a new grille cloth. It turned out pretty well.
It's a cute little cathedral, quite simple and clearly at the lower end of the
Philco line. |
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Philco 37-9, 1937 |
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I purchased this Philco at an antique mall recently. The finish was gone and
it had a couple veneer chips. I refinished it and fixed the chips. The radio
turned out pretty well. The grille cloth is a bit stained, but I left it as-is.
I like the contrasting veneers in this radio. I have seen other Philco 37-9's
with a contrasting strip of veneer on the top-front of the case, as well. |
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Philco 38-12, 1938 |
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This Philco is a great little radio. It was purchased from an antique/junk
shop, and it was painted white when I got it. It has since been restored
to its original look, and it looks and sounds great. Read about the restoration.
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Philco 42-321, 1942 |
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This Philco was purchased for just $12 in the Spring of 2003. It needed some
veneer work on the mahogany front, and a refinish. It's a cute design and
it turned out very well. I'm a sucker for any radio with black lacquer details.
I don't think the knobs are correct for this model. |
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Philco 45, 1935 |
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This Philco is known as "The Butterfly". It's a beautiful radio,
and it is all original. There are two small veneer chips on the lower
right side, in the black trim, which I have declined to fix. Otherwise,
it is perfect. |
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Philco 89, 1935 |
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This Philco 89 was bought at a swap meet and
refinished in black and toned lacquers. This finish is not exactly traditional -
most 89's I've seen are two toned brown, I did this one in brown and black. It looks
great, much like the Philco 45 above, and the 16b tombstone I'd love to have. I've
seen a couple other 89's done this way, but I have no idea if they were original. Read about the restoration. |
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Pioneer Tombstone |
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This Pioneer was refinished and restored. It's a nice little
5-tuber manufactured by Belmont. The front has some nice alternating grains
of walnut, the top and sides are toned wood. |
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RCA T10-1, 1936 |
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This is a large and impressive ten tube RCA tombstone.
This example has the original finish and grille cloth. It is quite
heavy, and has a luxurious feel to the dial tuning. This example has the wrong
center tuning knob. I looked quite awhile for one of these, as it is
a highly desirable radio.
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RCA 94X, 1938 |
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This RCA was purchased off e-Bay in the summer of 2001 for a few bucks.
It was pretty much destroyed.
It is
a small, tombstone style radio with four tubes. It was in very poor condition,
needing refinishing, new grille cloth, and a new dial. |
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RCA R-74, 1933 |
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This is another huge ten tube tombstone, but a little older
and with a more gothic flavor to it. I find these gothic styled radios
to be quite attractive, the tall, sweeping lines have a real architectural
flair.
This example was refinished by a previous owner. It's a pretty good job,
so I've left it alone.
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Setchell Carlson 4160 |
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This Setchell Carlson is a 6-volt battery radio which was converted
to AC operation sometime in its life. The finish was poor, so I refinished
the set and it has turned out quite well. The grillecloth is also a replacement.
A rather plain looking radio, but nice nonetheless. |
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Silvertone 4764 |
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This Silvertone is a beautiful, all original radio. It was purchased
at a local antique mall, and cleaned up. This is an 8-tube radio,
including tuning eye. It's not listed in any price guides, but I have seen one
other for auction on e-Bay.
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Silvertone 7038, 1942 |
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This Silvertone tombstone was a complete restoration - both case
and electronics were restored. This radio has a phono jack as well as
push-pull output, so it is a great one to hook a CD player up to to listen
to old radio programs and music. Read about the restoration.
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Skyrover 675, 1934 |
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This Skyrover is all original, and it is in beautiful shape. This
is a Belmont designed radio, resold under the Skyrover brand. As a Belmont,
it is sometimes referred to as the "Coat and Vest" radio (I have no idea why).
One of my nicest tombstones.
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Simplex Model P Deluxe |
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This Simplex tombstone is a tiny radio, it's about the height of a two
liter bottle of soda. It has a pretty simple little four-tube chassis.
The radio had some cabinet damage from a burn when it was bought. It was
refinished and now looks wonderful. Read about the restoration.
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Sonora RCU-208, 1939 |
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This Sonora was refinished before I bought it. It looks pretty good, although
the trim should probably be toned a bit. It's an Ingraham cabinet, and a very
nice radio.
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Stewart Warner R-1235A, 1933 |
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This is a beautiful, all original Stewart Warner
metal grille tombstone. The grille is actually aluminum, though it is
sometime referred to as as a "chrome front". The original finish on this
radio has a few scratches, but is in remarkably good condition for its age.
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Stewart Warner R-1252, 1933 |
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This Stewart Warner was purchased at the Lansing Swap in 2002. The
cabinet has been refinished, though it is not as dark as the picture
would indicate. The chassis currently has a pm speaker and the old field
coil instead of the original speaker. I guess the speaker was blown out but
the coil was OK. I'd like to finish it with a regular electrodynamic speaker,
if I can find one.
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Stewart Warner R-1262A, 1933 |
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This Stewart Warner is the most beautiful radio in my collection.
The case is perfect - not a bad place on it, with a nice original finish.
This radio is not working due to a missing speaker.
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Stewart Warner R-127A "Prado", 1933 |
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This Stewart Warner was purchased off e-Bay at some time or another, in
poor condition. It had holes drilled in the case, missing veneer, and badly
needed a refinish. Read about the restoration here.
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Stewart Warner R-142-AS |
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This Stewart Warner was purchased off e-Bay in the fall of 2002. It had
already been refinished and works well. This is a nice looking little
tabletop, and I really do like the Stewart Warner sets. They have great style.
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Stromberg Carlson 500-J, 1940 |
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This is a beautiful, beautiful radio. Enough said!
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Superdyne, 1935 |
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This radio appears to be the same as the Pla-Pal model 586DC, from 1935.
When I purchased this radio, it was painted white. You can read about
the restoration here. It turned out
beautifully, quite the little show stopper. These radios don't have great
performance, but I do believe they have great looks.
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Truetone D-2211 |
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I found this radio under a table at the Lansing meet in 2002. For $20,
I quickly snapped it up!
This is the uncommon wood version of a very popular bakelite radio. The
cabinet is made by Ingraham and I refinished it. I've never seen another
wood model of this radio.
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Union Deluxe, mid-1930's |
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This is an interesting mid-1930's set by Union Deluxe. I call this the "spare
parts" radio. The dial scale has a SW band on it, but this radio never had it.
The cabinet was drilled for 3 knobs, but the "Union Deluxe" tag is over the third
hole. Most of the tube sockets have the wrong number on them. I'm thinking
this radio was cobbled together from spare parts. It's an AC-DC trf with a
tuning eye. Weird!
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Westinghouse WR-10A "Columette", 1931 |
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A huge, heavy Westinghouse tombstone from 1931! This radio has its original
finish, albeit with a few scratches on top. This 8-tube radio has all balloon
style tubes, just as it would have when purchased in 1931.
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Wilcox Gay |
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This is an interesting Wilcox Gay radio. This radio has metal grilles
which are finished in black lacquer. The dial sits under the interesting
circular pattern of the left trim, while the speaker is under the right.
I refinished this radio, and repaired some veneer damage. It has a walnut
front, but the rest of the radio is toned poplar. The grille cloth is not
an exact match for the original, but it is close.
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Zenith 4V-31 Battery Tombstone, 1935 |
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I picked this set up recently in an antique mall for $50. I can't really
afford the nicer Zenith black dial sets, which might command $1,000, but this battery radio does just fine.
It's electronically unrestored, and the finish is the original - somewhat tired,
but presentable.
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Zenith 288, 1934 |
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This is one of my favorite radios, and I was ecstatic when I was able to
purchase a nice example of it. The cabinet of this radio just blows me away,
I love the strong art-deco lines, contrasting veneers, grains, and the black
top and trim. I believe this radio has been refinished, and whoever did it
did a very good job. This is a big, 8-tube tombstone, and a very nice performing
radio.
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| Wood Console Radios
I have a few of these, many in unrestored condition, but I'm running out of space!
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Kingston 600-B, 1934 |
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Easily my favorite console radio, this Kingston was made in Kokomo, Indiana.
I love the woodwork, and the radio does sound great as well.
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