There's a guy who comes around here to haul off old junk TV's and anything else he can find so he can sell them for scrap. Today, he called and said, "I have one of those old stereo's with the bulbs in the back that looks like it was made around 1900". He then wanted to know if I was interested and what I would pay. I told him that I may be interested and that I'd have to see what he had in order to determine what it was worth. So, he showed up with it and that "stereo" was actually a Silvertone model R71 7 tube console from 1940 in sad shape. He claimed that it had been in his Dad's garage for 25 years; but, he needed money to buy diapers for his kids and his Dad told him to sell it. He asked if I'd give him $15, which I did. I figure the tubes and knobs are worth that, should I end up not fixing this radio. The top of the radio was wet; so, I doubt it had been in his Dad's garage for 25 years. Today is trash day, it rained some last night, and I figure that he picked this up off the curb somewhere. When I looked it over, I noticed that someone substituded a 6L6 in place of the 6V6 that should have been there. If the 6L6 is good, I might get a few dollars for it by itself. As far as the cabinet, I don't know if it's worth fooling with. I'm not a cabinet person and hiring someone to fix it will probably run into more money than the radio is worth. Or, I could become a cabinet person and use this radio to practice on. Just for the fun of it, I probably will play around with the chassis just to see if I can get it going.
