Very deco '39 Majestic bakelite

[decojoe67]

Originally Posted by Dave A

I had one of these and I traded it for a RCA TM21D color monitor...working. Everyone was happy...still.

I'm surprised you have no regrets about trading an old art-deco radio for a modern monitor!

[Electronic M]

Originally Posted by decojoe67

I'm surprised you have no regrets about trading an old art-deco radio for a modern monitor!

One of these monitors http://www.earlytelevision.org/rca_tm-21b.html I'd gladly trade that radio for. There is probably not another model of TV/monitor using a round screen color CRT so over engineered for performance as that.

There are millions of AA5s out there, many have very cool looking deco cabinets...One can go to 100 radio/TV swap meets and find 5000 deco AA5s, but not one TM-21...I appreciate looks the same as I do engineering, but categorical scarcity (and engineering interest) puts some things in other leagues.

[decojoe67]

Originally Posted by Electronic M

One of these monitors http://www.earlytelevision.org/rca_tm-21b.html I'd gladly trade that radio for. There is probably not another model of TV/monitor using a round screen color CRT so over engineered for performance as that.

There are millions of AA5s out there, many have very cool looking deco cabinets...One can go to 100 radio/TV swap meets and find 5000 deco AA5s, but not one TM-21...I appreciate looks the same as I do engineering, but categorical scarcity (and engineering interest) puts some things in other leagues.

Ah! Okay. Knowledge is power. I had no idea it was something that rare. Very interesting piece. I'm a big TV history buff and can sure appreciate that piece.

Thanks MadMan for your comment.

[decojoe67]

A member on ARF confirmed that the design is the famous industrial designer Norman Bel Geddes first venture into bakelite radios. It was the original "3-ribbed" model, but we can attribute the later "4-ribbed" model, which is just a slight revision of it, to him.