What is this TV
 

My partner showed me this web page. Almost at the bottom is a photo of a white TV with round screen. Since it's American I though it best to ask here.

https://socialgazette.com/stories/no...Nj2PwabQfeEpQM

Looks a LOT like my Zenith Porthole-The "Claridge", I think, if someone had taken the vinyl covering off & painted it white.

I was going to say the same thing except my porthole has a slightly different door over the controls.

I believe the white lacquered version was called “The Eskimo” .

jr

The set is a Raytheon, or one of the private label sets they built.
I don't know if the cabinet has been refinished or not.

Yes, a 1950 Raytheon-Belmont. The right control is a continuous turner. I would suspect the set came with the light Tolex, although I've only seen existing models in dark Tolex. They're very uncommon to begin with. Much more so than similar looking Zenith's.

Interesting that link didn't show any link of a tv for me.

:) You have to scroll almost all the way to the bottom of the page to find it

Over in Pigeon Forge, near Gatlinburg, there was an "Aunty-Kew" shoppe that had basically the usual junque & bric-a-brac those emporiums typically have, but this one had, if IIRC, one of those "Stromberg-Carlson" portholes from later on in the fifties. Think they wanted $350-400, & it needed to be gone thru- I assumed it didn't work, & the cabinet needed help, too, but that was the only one of them I ever saw. Would it be worth going back over there, & trying to make a deal on the thing, or just fuggeddaboutit? The Wife might "Stromberg-Carlson" my rear end, too, if you know what I mean...

Those porthole S-C's are actually pretty early. That price is nearing what an excellent working example would go for. They're very good sets, but not particularly high-dollar one's due to being large and heavy. In the condition that one is in, I would say $150 or so would be a more realistic price.

Hmmm... Well, $359-400 is outta the question, then, in an unknown working condition, & pretty much full-blown re-doing of the cabinet. And I have my Clarige, wife typically sees little/no humor in having 2 very similar looking sets-to HER, anyway... That's been a few years back, I'd bet it may be long gone anyhoo...

Those kind of prices are typical non-radio/TV collector prices in antique shops. The only chance of it selling is another non-radio/TV collector with deep pockets wanting it for conversation piece in their home.

Yeah, well, when I buy something like an unusual TV, it tends to get "Retired"-typically DON'T resell 'em... Have been known to give 'em away, or maybe swap out, but that's kinda rare. If you're a cyoot little kid, who looks up at me beseechingly w/teary eyes, THAT often works...

Thanks for all the information. Shows that it pays to ask the right people.

Finally saw all the pictures. It must of been a slow network the other time I looked at this. Very neat and nice pictures. Yes, that’s definitely a Zenith porthole set.

Actually I am good friends with an antique shop owner near me (and he's cut me some pretty good deals on some old radios and what not) and he once got in an old Stromberg-Carlson "Oriental" TV Set from about 1952 (it was a console set) and he priced the set at about $450 and he said that the reason for doing so was to keep it out of the hands of the "fish tankers" because he knew someone who was actually into restoring old TVs would know what it is and would buy it (at a much more reduced price as he was willing to come down on the price with someone who would of actually fixed up the TV right).

So I don't know if thats the case in all antique shops but I know that was the case with my friend, and I think that's kind of a smart move, seeing as not many of these old sets are left out there anymore (well except for that new stash that was found recently by one of the members on here.)