The gods of television scrounging continue to shine!

[Dave S]

Picked up this 1953 Du Mont (sic) today, just in time for the Early Television Convention!

https://flic.kr/p/pTJUvw
https://flic.kr/p/rrgvYv
https://flic.kr/p/s6C3Tz

[oldtvsandtoy]

Very nice set

[Kamakiri]

O......m......g!!!!!!!!!

[zenithfan1]

I am thinking this is the find of the year..or the next few years. Its amazing how it basically found you lol

[Celt]

Purdy!

[Steve D.]

Dave,

What a fantastic find. I want to hear the back story on this DuMont at the convention. Here's a cover photo from the Oct. 1954 Radio Electronics. Looks like your set may pre-date this DuMont labs 15" set.

-Steve D.

[rcaman]

om my wow wow wow.

[Gregb]

SWEEEEET!!

Gregb

[Phil Nelson]

Zounds! How on earth did you lay hands on that one?

Phil Nelson
Phil's Old Radios
http://antiqueradio.org/index.html

[Steve McVoy]

Dave has perfected the art of having rare sets find him.

Last year he stumbled upon a CBS RX-89, and before that, several others, including an Andrea 2-F-12.

He has donated all of these to the museum.

That is in addition to a bunch of other stuff he does for us - including providing video coverage of our conventions.

Thanks, Dave.

[Tubejunke]

WOW! At first I thought that this thread was in the wrong forum as the opening statement mention "53 DuMont" didn't scream out color set to me. I have only once in my life seen a DuMont round tube color set and it was more like 1963 than 53! And what a day that was at a Salvation Army thrift outlet. I walk in and there is what at a glance looks like two coffin stereos which at the time (maybe 10 years ago) were complete dumpster destiny.

At any rate, I always give all electronics a look see. First I see DuMont's great name somewhere among the stereo controls, then after seeing a TV selection but no screen (back was to the wall) I slide a wooden sort of vertical roll top cover from right to left and there was the screen. CLEAN as brand new! Even then space was sketchy here at my home/collection hoard. Decisions, decisions, WISHES, wants etc.... I picked up one end of the monolith that most DuMonts are and my decision to walk out was made. $10 price tag by the way! But I had but a few years before practically given away an RA-109A to a fellow in Richmond, VA named Tom Houtalling who was traveling around in a van bringing back whatever he could supposedly to start a museum in Richmond. We lost touch and I don't know if the museum ever came to be; or if my set is in said museum. I simply had nowhere to put the set but out in a shed with the mice. I thought it deserved better than that. I threw in a nice RCA color "roundie" with only sync trouble as well. I think I asked $30 for the pair.

The Salvation Army set was just interesting to me, but highly impractical. Same as the blonde finish similar set right beside it. I think it was a Magnavox. Mainly I hated the thought that if some oddball like me didn't get it or them, then they would end up trash. Ten years ago these sets had little to no real following as they do today. 20 years ago they were garbage pretty much. These two were $20 each and I'm sure they would have taken a lot less. I came back about a week later and both were gone. The person there said they thought somebody bought them, but weren't sure. Maybe old Tom H. I don't know of anyone local to my part of these VA woods that is warehousing old TV sets. LOL

Steve D's picture sure is neat! What a great time that must have been to be a student of electronics and/or work in the field! Today the schools teach, and largely the field is dominated by industrial based micro processor hybridized automation & related controls. I see a growing acceptance that kids who have worked on PCs and robotic toys are electronics techs. PC work requires almost no understanding of electronics. But to remain viable as a trained tech, you must understand PCs. I don't like putting PC kids in 480V plus control cabinets. But more and more are coming into the field and that's where they will end up. Cheap labor yes; safe-NO! You can check their knowledge by having them do SUPERVISED measurements with a Simpson 260 or some other analog VOM. LOL! Anyway, there is a DuMont scope like that in Steve's pic at an antique mall near Greensboro, NC if anyone is into the old test equipment or jut the DuMont name.

[ChrisW6ATV]

That is a great-looking set! It looks more like a 1948-1950 style set to me, which is intended as a compliment. It is a fantastic find, Dave.

[Eric H]

Wow, Prototype??

Please tell us more!

[Geoff Bourquin]

Wait...This thing is COLOR from 1953? So this was built at the same time as the CT-100 and the H840CK! Does anyone have any idea where this set falls on the rare-O-meter? Does it have a 15GP22?

[Dave S]

Originally Posted by Tubejunke

WOW! At first I thought that this thread was in the wrong forum as the opening statement mention "53 DuMont" didn't scream out color set to me.

Nor to me. That's why I *almost* didn't return the phone call from the guy who contacted me about it. He said it was a color set, but I didn't believe him. I went to see it anyway, and as soon as I saw it, I knew it was destined for the Early Television Museum. On the rare-O-meter, it pretty much pins the needle. Really, it's just too esoteric to even try to display in my living room (some visitors appreciate seeing the Pilot TV-37 but most don't get too excited about the CTC-5, and they're not going to see any difference between that and this set!) This set was even too exotic for me to think about putting in our local antique radio and television museum. (We're going to put a CT-100 on display there, and I suspect that may elicit "ho-hums" from many people.)

The backstory as it was told to me: when it was not longer wanted at the Du Mont labs, the set was rescued by the engineer who had worked on it. The engineer gave it about fifty years ago to the guy who had called me. He tried to get it working, but with no success, and stored it under a blanket in a dry basement since then. We had to disassemble it to get it out of his basement. It includes a pre-production version of the 15G CRT in it, but unfortunately the tube is to air.

Most developmental sets I've seen are in somewhat crudely-constructed cabinets. The engineers didn't care so much about appearance. This set is in a finely-finished cabinet (and it's endured the test of time fairly well; you can still see your reflection in the cabinet!) The only odd thing is that the corners of the cabinet are cut somewhat strangely around the opening for the CRT. Was this because it was a production cabinet from a black-and-white set and they had to modify it to fit in the CRT chassis, or is this how the finish work was intended to look? We haven't found any production DuMont sets that have a cabinet that looks like this one, so it remains a mystery. Maybe the model shop went all-out and made a finely-finished custom cabinet for a developmental set for Mr. DuMont's office? In any case, it's all there. In fact, it came with a spare chassis that is very similar to the chassis in the set.

Here's the fellow talking about how he saved the TV: https://youtu.be/HJ96ipMkFFQ

The set is now on display at the Early Television Museum.