On the eve of Apple’s big announcement, I emailed a local antique radio collector.
I explained to him that a few years ago I bought a very large Farnsworth radio at a garage sale. It was a beautiful vintage machine, harkening back to the era of wooden analog machines that matched the living room furniture.
The inside of the machine was a mess, but I was inspired by a blog post that detailed how to gut the machine and transform it into a modern iPod jukebox. I never got around to such an elaborate project, and all I did was put old computer speakers inside of the chassis with an auxiliary cable sticking out the top.
But I’ll be moving soon and there’s simply no space for the old Farnsworth. I wanted to make sure the antique radio found a good home if it was actually something in-demand. So that’s why I wrote the antique radio collector.
He wrote back:
Consoles can be difficult to find homes for in the best of conditions: Zenith, Scott, and a couple others are exceptions.
Your Farnsworth is a middle grade console which looks like an AC series which was released Oct. 1939 for the 1940 model year or possibly a BC series which is 1941.
If you get me the exact model number (look for numbers in the format like I have suggested), I can tell you more and maybe find you an ad from a trade journal. I can send you a high res scan if it would be of interest.
The cabinet itself does not look too bad from what I can see. The two killers are the broken dial glass which has the dial scales on it, making replacement a real problem. There are people who silkscreen dials on glass but generally only for popular models or at great expense for a one-off product. The second is typical of many radios from 1940 to 41 and 1946 thru 49. The marbled looking dial bezel was made from a material called “tenite”. Like its big brother catalin, it did not age well.
The aging process, accelerated by exposure to UV, causes it to shrink, typical of the dial bezel, and crystalize, typical for the pushbuttons.
You combine these problems for which there is no solution, with a soft market for consoles, and it is currently an undesirable radio for collectors.
The decorator market, however, goes through cycles, occasionally seeking “vintage” objects for rec rooms, but I am not knowledgeable about which way that breeze is blowing.
With Apple’s Press Conference about to kick-off to announce the iPad, or Tablet, or whatever it will be called, I thought this brief email exchange with an antique electronics collector gives some excellent perspective on why we get excited about these events.
Of course I looked up Philo Farnsworth on Wikipedia in order to learn more about my radio’s namesake. The man invented electronic television, and yet he lived much of his life wondering if it actually contributed to the advancement of society. I was struck by this exchange he had with his wife upon seeing men land on the moon on television.
Elma Farnsworth: We were watching it, and, when Neil Armstrong landed on the moon, Phil turned to me and said, “Pem, this has made it all worthwhile.” Before then, he wasn’t too sure.
We put a man on the moon back then. Nowadays, NASA is getting outsourced and consumer electronics get thrown out every 18 months.
I’m not sure if these new devices will be worthwhile, or whether they’ll contribute to the advancement of society, or whether they’ll even be collectable—but I’ll be watching.
the Mark Pike
