John Vassos 1939 RCA Victor 96X-3

[decojoe67]

Occasionally John Vassos seemed to be allowed to run wild on a radio design. I would say this is one of them. Most call it art-deco and some say "machine-age". I say it's a text book example of the final variant of art-deco design before tastes began to change, and that's "streamline-moderne". It culminated at the 1939-1940 New York Worlds Fair. Smooth, clean curved surfaces combined with sharp asymmetrical features and, of course, speed lines or louvers. These came in solid brown bakelite, solid black bakleite, solid ivory plaskon, brown bakelite/tan plaskon (this model), black bakelite/ivory plaskon. The combo models are the toughest to find. This one is nearly mint in and out and plays great. It has an unusual black striped barrel/roller type dial-indicator that glows nicely from the slit in the cabinet.