Emerson suitcase radio
 

Hey folks, I ran across an Emerson tube radio in a black leather case. Looks like a small suitcase about 12 inches or so wide, 4 inches deep and about 8 or 9 inches high. It has a front flap that folds up and locks with a small flip-latch. It had part of the backing missing and I could see several tubes...but no serial or model numbers anywhere on the case. I did not buy it as the owner of this little antique booth was not there AND it also had a $45.00 price tag on it. Was being sold "AS IS", naturally. It looked pretty rough, the leather handle on the top was gone, the case was very dirty. The dial glass looked okay but the speaker grill was very brittle. It looked almost like bamboo. The tuning indicator still moved (smoothly) when the tuning knob was turned. The power/volume was pretty hard to move, but it would. It had an AC cord tucked up in the part of the back that was missing. I have searched the net all evening and cannot find anything resembling this radio. Anyone have any idea what this might be from my description? Too bad I didn't have a camera with me :( Sorry if I can't provide anymore detail. I may have to go back later and see if the owner is around and find out what he can tell me about it.

Sounds like a parts carcass to me...

There are three pages of Emerson photos here - http://radioatticarchives.com/archive.php?pageName=e2
See if there's anything like it. AC / battery portables came out in the very late '30s, but most used miniature tubes - post-war.

Heh heh....yeah...almost looks like one too! It has an Emerson badge on the front of the case lid. The dial is almost identical to that on the Aristocrat 400 shown on one of the pages in your link. That's the only similarity I could find to it. Guess it must be a "parts carcass."