Is a dead 6T5 worth anything ?
 

I have here a dead 6T5 , the heater is open . The standard last ditch effort of re soldering the heater pins failed , no continuity between pins 1 & 6 .

So my question is , knowing a working one is indeed a rare & valuable tube , is a dud worth anything to anyone as a possible display piece , for example ? Now bear in mind when I say "worth anything" I'm not talking money , it's a dead tube and I throw away dead tubes , but I figured before I threw out this dead tube I'd ask if it's so rare as to still be desirable to anyone who may want it for display ?

The mini tube lighting up in the tester is a 6ME5 , a tiny little 7 pin version of the 6U5/6G5 .

Whole, it could serve as a display piece in a tube collectors eye tube gallery....If you only collect tubes, then what difference should it make if they work (other than value)? Another use is if you have a set or chassis that uses it but is missing that tube...If the set is a display piece, going to sit unrestored for years (we all develop backlogs of resto work), or is going to be sold, having a tube there even if it is a dud looks better.

I tend to save the bakelite bases on dud tubes especially fat-pin types. You never know when you will need one. The base of a 6U5 (or other 6 pin tube), an octal socket, 2 diodes, 2 lytics, some wire and toilet paper roll are all you need to make a plugin adapter to use a type 1629 in place of a 6U5. Also, a surprising number of radios and TVs used tube sockets/bases as multi-pin wiring connectors for speakers, batteries, second chassis etc...If you need the base half for some project then having one on hand from a dud tube can be a godsend. I've been known to take a dud tube apart in front of the curious to use as a visual aid in answering the question "how does a tube work?".

One can get a lot out of their own trash if they stop to think what/how it can be useful.

The problem with selling stuff like this for "Display" is it tends to wind up on eBay installed in a radio, or as part of a lot of "Untested" tubes, knowing full well it's no good.

I smashed up a bunch of bad 7JP4 CRT's for this reason.

I have a couple of the 6G5's (guess that's what they are) with the GE face. One is totally used up, the other pretty weak. Looking at them always makes me wish rebuilding was practical.

Ive got a working one of those 6T5s in a box of tubes well padded.. :)

SR