For those with 10K lying around or who have a muesem..HM 171 .
 

http://www.ebay.com/itm/1939-General...item35de346012

Does not look too bad--has had some mods including added audio amp and speaker...

Why are this guy's products so expensive? He doesn't appear to be dodgy like radios10467, but his prices are insanely high.

when thats the way you make your living you have to sell at prices that are way more then it worth. I wont deal will the guy.

GE Unrestored Prewar TV
 

"Good grief!!" -- Charlie Brown :sigh:

Nice enough looking set! Any thoughts on what it might really be worth?

Gregb

Exactly what buyer and seller agree upon.

I get that, I am wanting to know what the going rate for a set like that might be on average.

Gregb

MAYBE Half of half...

is that pase'os or yen ????????? can't be dollars thats madness:D

When I bought a prewar TV a few years back at ETF maybe 10-15 people in the room were thinking it was worth $3000, 3-4 people bid up to $5000. The reserve wasn't met and I had to increase my bid another $1K to get it. There were only about 100 people there at the auction. Add in the internet and the world and the price goes up. Imagine an executive in an electronics or TV company in Japan. He doesn't want to restore an old television but might like to display one. I've seen predictas, pilots and 1950s RCA portables sitting on shelfs in the background of the morning news tv shows. A GE prewar console went for about $14K at the auction in Connecticut a while back. Given 200 american prewar and 250 UK prewars with a third to half in museums then they are worth exactly what buyer and seller agree upon. Rarity isn't the only gauge but popularity go a long way in determining price; I have an 1928 6-foot tall x-ray machine with a 50K volt transformer which I paid $600 for and would be lucky to get $300 out of. There are a lot of 1930 juke boxes which go for between $7K and $10K.

Sadly way beyond my means plus the fact the wife would kill me!!

Gregb

I can tell you that one of these sold last year for $10k and one sold the year before at auction for half that. Like Richard said it all depends who's "in the room." Go ask a random person what an old tube TV that doesn't work is worth, then ask a billionaire TV executive and avid prewar TV collector who doesn't yet own this model the same question.

This one also appears to be a bit of a mess. Cabinet drilled for volume control, wrong power transformer that required extra holes be drilled in the chassis, 6F8's rewired to 6SN7's, wrong crt shield and mask and various stuff drilled and added to the chassis.

I did like his comment "It even has the original tuner shield/cover that so many of these sets are missing." Yes, these are always missing since that's not an original piece to these sets!

It's interesting and informative what you wrote, but I think with a situation like this, much can be forgiven. You're dealing with a rare and historic early television set. This is not a set for the collector who wants "an old TV" to watch The Honeymooners on, but a serious TV collector who respects it's provenance. As a collector who's main interest has been television history, if I had the money, I'd see this set as jewel. It display's beautifully and a few extra holes in the chassis (as well as the other issues), in my personal opinion, don't turn me off to it at all. The seller has the absolute right to say "it could be many years until another one comes on the market", and he would be correct. I must say that the starting bid is high IMO. I would value the set, with the mods, in the $5,000-$7,000 range.

Was the newer power transformer added to accommodate the extra amps the audio chassis would draw?