...

:eek: :pity:


.

Don't Wait!
 

I have a collector friend who has noticed a syndrome over the years: he used to post notices on the bulletin board at work that he collects old radios and phonographs. Often someone would contact him with "some old thing" that they'd be glad to give him to get it out of the house.

But, he says, on any number of occasions after he's gotten them thinking about it, they'd seem to decide that if someone was interested in it, it must be a good collectible. And then the offer was withdrawn.

So strike while the iron is hot!

--Dave

P.S. If you get the set, you really should consider keeping it. You'd be an instant "high end" TV collector. And it's a lot of fun.

.

Yes. And although there's absolutely nothing wrong with buying it for $500 if that's what they asked (I paid $20 for mine!) the advice of another member here who'd legendary in "getting the deal done" (you know who you are!) would probably be, especially if things are moving worrisomely slowly at the free or $500 level, to cut your risk of the deal going bad AND perhaps do the honorable thing by taking $1,000 or $2,000 in cash over to the owner and making it happen NOW!

.

Okay, an update. I was able to speak to the lady today. The television was her father's who has recently passed away. I told her that her fiance' had offered to sell it to me and asked if she'd like me to save her the hassle of having to move it by buying it. She said that she'd have to check with her sister, as she is the executor of their father's estate. When I first mentioned the TV, she said something like "one of the first ones", so she apparently knows that it may be worth something. As it stands now, she knows I am interested, but she is beholden to moving it unless she gets the OK from her sister to sell it to me. As it is now becoming obvious that this is going to get more involved, if she and her sister are interested in selling it I will now point out all of the problems with it (cut cords, modified radio panel, modified TV tuner and panel, unknown CRT ststus) in order to keep the price down. I know I still want to get it, but only if there's enough meat left on the bone to turn a dollar or 2. I don't generally buy vintage audio pieces with the intention of flipping them, but this is different. Call me a TV whore if you wish, but I really have no interest in keeping this. How high can I go (with what we know thus far) and still be able to make a few dollars? I realize how sleazy this might sound to you that are serious about this hobby, but I'm being honest. I'm driving 2.5 hours this weekend to pick up a '61 Fisher Custom Electra from the original owner with the intent of adding it to my collection. I only mention this to let you know that I'm a serious collector, just not of vintage TV's.

Thank you everyone once again, I'll keep you updated as events warrant.

Dave

Who knows, the cat may be out of the bag. It wouldn't take a rocket scientist to Google for "rca trk-12" and learn in 60 seconds that it's a historic and valuable item. Among other things, that search will reveal this very discussion, where TV collectors are wetting their pantaloons over the thought of buying it.

They may be wising up as we speak, in short.

Under the circs, I see two options:

1. Make a low-ish, but reasonable and fair, offer that would let you turn a modest profit by immediately flipping it. Be prepared for rejection. (Under similar circumstances, I have made offers that I considered quite generous; the sellers instantly got dollar signs in their eyes and decided to look for bigger fish elsewhere.)

2. Step out of the deal and tell them it's historic and valuable. Advise that they list it on eBay and direct them to this discussion if they haven't already discovered it.

It's hard to keep secrets in a forum that's visible worldwide a few milliseconds after you click "Submit Reply."

Phil Nelson
http://antiqueradio.org/index.html

MIBs
 

I really wouldn't be too surprised to hear that some enterprising collector in the northeast hadn't already deduced where the set is in Connecticut and is just now hauling it away.

Wouldn't shock me at all either.

Well if they are enterprising enough to determine where it is, they certainly deserve it! I realize that CT isn't a terribly big state, but there are a lot of little towns in it.

Is Canton a little town?

Only ~25 sq. mi. with a population of ~12,000. So yes, it's a relatively little town.

That's a teeming metropolis compared to Starlight.

I am green with envy!:yes: If it was mine I would restore and never let it out of my sight. Don't sell it, keep it if you have the room for it. That is a once in a lifetime find, fate is trying to tell you something! If your lucky enough to end up with itKeep it, don't sell it! Just thinking about this set is making me light-headed. This is like winning the lottery, IT ONLY HAPPENS ONCE, don't sell it! :nono: Keep it and polish it daily.:banana:

Steve P

I'd echo this... it's likely the perfectionist in me, but I couldn't bear to part with it and _not_ know how it was being treated... but I don't doubt there's plenty of people out there who know how to care for it and would love to have one.

Each his own, and I respect your choice. (but still... resell? why would you _ever_ want to do that? :))

Seems everyone that has chimed in on the future of this set has overlooked one important item, Dave isn't a TV collector. I see an audio collector who is looking for a means to acquire/upgrade his collection, just like any of the TV collectors would be looking at a rare and valuable non TV piece they found in a thrift shop.

If I had a Fisher President or the like sitting in my garage I'd be trying to make a deal with Dave 2 days ago. It sounds as if this set ends up in Dave's hands, it is going to be available to us TV collectors at, of course, market value but that's the luck of the draw.

Dave, you're from New England get that Yankee trader mind set in gear. Take a stack of hundreds the next time you go to talk with the owner, start putting them on the table, it's remarkable what the sight of hundred dollar bills does for negotiations.

Chuck

If nothing else offer to sell it for them on eBay, for a percentage of course.

They're already in my wallet Chuck! :thmbsp:

I'm hoping she comes around today so I can start laying 'em down.

Dave

Thanks Chuck. You hit the nail squarely on the head. Truer words were never spoken.

If you get it , please PLEASE PLEASE be careful not to break the picture tube! If you need extra hands I am but 40 minutes north of you on RT.91 in Deerfield MA. and would be happy to help you move it, I would hate to see something get damaged on this wonderful old set.

Steve

MAN... This has been the best soap opera I have seen in my life! How has this ended?!

Just a few facts
- Pretty much the whole board, me included obviously, is green with envy
- I would also get into a plane with a big wallet if I had the wallet, and I could figure out how to get that thing back home... in fact I would come back like Gollum saying "my precious"...
- To compensate somebody that has all this luck together, there must be many many unlucky TV collectors around!!!

I just stumbled on to this thread. Don't get to the B&W forum very often. My TRK-120 story: About 35 or more years ago (pre-internet), I read an ad in a local shopping guide. The ad was for an old tv with a mirror in the top. I knew enough about pre-war TV to call on this and the owner wanted $100.00. I called my brother for help and borrowed the KTLA-TV prop van. I worked there then. Drove to Van Nuys to the sellers home. The set was sitting in his garage with a drop coth covering it. He removed the cloth and there was the 120. I caught my breath and tried to remain composed as to not have him raise the price. I did a hasty exam of the set, it was all there. He took my 100 bucks and my brother and myself, not knowing about the picture tube mounting ect. tilted the 120 on its back and slid it on to a packing blanket into the van. I secured it and we drove it to my home in the Hollywood Hills, I live in an apt. up 2 flights of stairs. We removed the chassis to lighten the load and carried the cabinet w/the pix tube still installed up to my patio. The heavy chassis followed. Over the next few days I cleaned out the crud from the cabinet and used a soft paint brush and vaccum cleaner to clean up the various chassis.
I than reinstalled all the chassis with no parts left over. Having no knowledge of the consequences, at the time, I plugged it in. I turned the power on and flipped the multi function knob to "TELEVISION". After a bit of snap, crackle and pop, but no smoke, the picture tube lit up with a bright raster. I connected the antenna lead to it and a picture appeared. The set had the 6 channel tuner.
Still feeling brave I switched to the "RADIO" position plainly marked on the panel. The TV went off and the radio dial lit up. All the buttons were intact and had Los Angeles radio station call letters on the pushbuttons. Many, long off the air. Pushing one of the buttons and the low hum of a motor was heard as the tuning indicator slowing and automatically moved to a station at the upper end of the dial. I had know Idea there was motorized tuning. I did no restoration on the set, other ten cleaning up the cabinet. I did remove the mirror from it's frame to clean it up and notice a date from some time in 1940 printed on the back. It sat in my living room for several years. When I aquired my CT-100 and then a huge CTC-5 Wingate model, I decided to sell, because of lack of space, the TRK-120. I put an ad in the local antique radio club newsletter and asked $6000.00 mid 70's dollars. I asked very high so I could bargin down to a lower price. Even then, I knew these were rare and valuable sets. An early pre-war TV collector Kent Warner lived close by and came to see it and told me it would bring at least $3000.00. He already owned a 120 and several other sets. A fellow from Huntington Beach, Ca. called me, he was very excited. Said he saw this set, as a child, at the 1939 Worlds Fair and always wanted one. He asked if I had sold it yet. I said no. Without any pause he said he would go to the bank that day and get the $6000. and bring a friend and a van the next day. Of course I accepted. Early the next morning he arrived and asked, with some stress, if I still had the set and hadn't sold it since our converation. I invited him in and he saw that the set was there and in wonderful condition. We sat at my dining room table while he counted out $6000.00 in one hundred dollar bills. Between the three of us and a furniture dolly we carefully took it one long step at a time downstairs and loaded it into his van. I never heard from him again. To this day I'm sorry I sold my TRK-120. Sorry for the long story, but it kind of fit this clif hanging thread.

Good luck Dave,
-Steve D.

Steve, Kent Warner wrote what has to be one of the earliest articles ever published about vintage TV collecting for a book about general TV history that was published sometime in late 1977. There are a couple of pictures of what I assume is your TRK-120, one with him posed in front of it. Both of them show it in operation.

In the same article he tells of buying an RR-359 from a gas station for $40 and adds that the set which he identified as a TRK-12 required a much larger investment.

ETA Correction: The RR-359 wasn't his, that was a lucky purchase of a friend of his.

Dave,

Kent Warner had an extensive collection of pre-war sets including most if not all of RCA's models and a pre-war DuMont among others. TV Guide did a two page article w/a photo of KENT posing with his collection back in the 70's. Seeing this article, I looked up Kent in the L.A. phone book, he was listed, and invited him over to see my 120. Kent and I remained good friends until his passing many years ago. I don't recall what happend to his collection. Ed Reitan may be able to shed some light on that. Can't believe it was almost 40 years ago.

-Steve D.

IIRC, I remember reading a sad tale that Kent's mother tossed and/or sold his collection after his death...Apparently, she didn't know/care what the stuff was worth...Being WAY before the Internoot, collectors basically operated in isolation.

I have a book called "A Flick Of The Switch" that has a picture of Kent Warner with part of his collection in it if I remember right. It mentioned he worked in Hollywood. I was all excited later when I saw his name in the credits of The Rockford Files.

Well folks, I wish I had a happy ending to report in this saga. However, the lady was unable to get her sister (the executor of her father's estate) to respond to my offer to purchase the set. I don't get the feeling that this was a monetary decision, but rather an emotional one. I've not been able to speak with the sister, but it's my impression that she just doesn't want to let it go right now. The last time I spoke with the woman who was storing the set in her garage, I had 15 crisp Benjamins in my wallet and was ready to begin laying them down. However she told me that she could not lawfully sell it to me. That was only for her sister to decide who was not responsive to offers. She, and the TV, have now moved to their new home which just a few miles away. She has my phone numbers should the TV become available. I've not given up, but it's just a bit further from my grasp now.

Dave

They have your number and they know you're interested. I would just hold onto my Benjamins and be patient. Settling an estate can be a very emotional thing, and it's stressful under the best of circumstances. Pressing them further at this stage might just annoy them.

Phil Nelson

Chris,

I have that book, "A Flick of the Switch 1930-1950" 1st edition 2nd printing 1976. While the author shows several collectors, I don't see Kent Warner in my copy. Perhaps you have a later edition.
Kent worked freelance as the costume designer on many shows at various studios.

And Dave, sorry you weren't able to close the deal on the TRK 90. At least you know where it is and hopefully your patience will be rewarded.

-Steve D.

Steve-

My copy is the same edition, and you are right, there is no picture of Kent Warner. I think I was confused with maybe an article about him in a TV Guide in the late 70's.

That was my feeling as well. I truly did not push the issue with her upon learning her sister's feelings and position. As you say, they have my number and I know where it is. As we have been neighbors for several years (I've been here since '94), I will check-in on occasion just to see how the new digs are working out and keep me in her memory. My wife and I are very good friends with the owners of the house and I did provide a far bit of help when she first moved in and was having problems. I was (and usually am) the first to walk over and welcome her to the neighborhood and offer any help I could. I remember when we bought this house how nice it felt to have our new, next-door neighbor come by on our first evening with coffee and an offer of help.

Dave

Well, she just stopped by my house. She was looking for bug-spray as she's still working at the house across the street before the owners get home. I'm happy she thought of us first! No, I didn't mention the TV.

Dave

You are taking just the right steps, I feel. Make it clear, every once in a while, that you are dead serious about it and that you will take the TV at a moments notice if they so choose. I've seen things sold to somebody else or junked and when asked later the owner said, "Oh, I never knew you were serious!" or just "I forgot, and this guy seemed pretty interested." The most important thing, I feel, is to keep this from being turned into landfill. If nothing else, maybe they can will it to a museum. That won't buy you a Fisher, though!

I wish you wuz MY neighbor...(grin)

I just wanted to thank everyone here on VK for their insight, knowledge and guidance throughout this little adventure. I just knew, through my years on AudioKarma, that this was the right place to come with my questions. I am truly not surprised to find folks here as passionate about this Forum's topics as we are over on AK. Thank you for your welcoming and helpful responses. I will, of course, revive this thread should anything ever come to fruition regarding the TRK-12 and myself. For now, I'm back to bury myself in the goings-on back at AudioKarma. I have some Kenwood LS-X9 speakers (never imported to this country, 52,000 yen ea. in '89) that I'm getting ready to dive into for a recap. If anyone reads Japanese, I'd appreciate any help beyond what Google translation provides.

http://videokarma.org/attachment.php...0&d=1309805403

Happy 4th!
Dave

52K yen ? Aw, hell, that's only about $5.73 American....(grin)

Yeah I know, 52K yen really means nothing. In today's (admittedly crappy) dollars, that equates to roughly $1300/pr. Last I looked it up, that was ~$2100 in 1989. Fairly spendy speakers for the time.

Dave

2015 addition to this 2007 post.
There were several mentions of the late vintage tv collector Kent Warner in this post and the article about his collection in a 1977 issue of TV Guide. Here is a photo of Kent & his collection as seen in that article. Also a photo of my TRK-120 whose story I told in this post.

-Steve D.

Thanks for posting the pictures, Steve. I am sure that is the one of Kent and his collection that I saw. Your TRK-120 looks nice.

Thanks for the photos. I can't quite make out the print in the TV guide picture...maybe I'm getting old :tears:.

John,

I apologize for the text resolution. My scanner was at fault. I photographed the text which should be easier to read.

-Steve D.