Quote:
Originally Posted by Glenz75
Hi Bryan,thanks for the comments. 
Majestic was just a brand name that a company called Dominion TV and Radio in New Zealand used, which back then made tvs/radios/record players for the market. All of our brand names were probably borrowed from overseas sets. Some other brand names that were used on NZ TV's were Bell, Pye, Thorn, Ultimate, Dreco, Astor, Murphy, Fleetwood, Singer, Admiral, Lotus, Deep Image, Sanyo just to name a few, mostly taken from English brands.
G. |
Here's another possible link to NZ and the Majestic brand. There's a lot of fascinating history behind all of this. In 1920's Canadian inventor Edward "Ted" Rogers, the owner of Rogers Vacuum Tube Company, developed the world's first alternating current radio tube. Rogers looked for additional investors and agreed to a merger with the Majestic Corporation of Chicago. The Canadian government approved the merger and granted Rogers a radio license for the broadcast band with call sign CFRB in early 1927. The new company with manufacturing headquarters in Toronto, Canada, was called Rogers Majestic Corporation Limited. Their main task was to mass produce the First Rogers Batteryless radio. The merger completed in 1928.
For us vintage TV collectors, it's worth noting that in 1931, the Canadian Government also granted Edward Rogers the first television broadcasting license in Canada.
Rogers passed away in 1939, at the age of 39. It's sad news and yet, think what more he may have accomplished if he had lived! Since Canada's constitution was not repatriated until 1981, prior to this Canada, a Commonwealth country, was officially a Dominion of Great Britain, the "Crown". Countries part of the Commonwealth also have special trade relationships. Canadian Business and Patent law would trace back to British Law; which, if I understand correctly, would make it possible for another dominion, like New Zealand, to license the Rogers or Majestic brand names. Although I'm sure of the legal implications, the appearance of these brands in NZ make sense given their relation ship with the Crown.