Quote:
Originally Posted by miniman82
Do you think that's an actual stain color, or was that just how they referred to it?
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I have no actual first-hand knowledge, but I'd guess the name "Toasted Mahogany" was to overcome the resistance of older purchasers, who like my grandfather said on blonde furniture, "looks like it ain't been finished."
Several furniture makers tried blonde furniture and in the older parts of the country there apparently was much buyer resistance. This is why I feel that RCA adopted the name "Toasted Mahogany", and used it at least through 1949.
I would guess that it was not like an original color name, as anyone who has ever done furniture finishing knows, the longer your stain sits before wiping, the darker and richer it becomes. Also how one stained the wood-filler before the color stain brought out more "grain". (This was much more important with the older dyes and solvents than with the currently made stains.)
I would love to see an original era Kodachrome slide of one of these sets. The "Standard Mahogany" set used contrasting colors, while the "Walnut" and "Toasted Mahogany" RCA sets used a more muted color scheme.
Holy Cow! Your set looks better in the original listing than your quick photos.
One might as well enjoy these pictures before ePray deletes them.
http://www.ebay.com/itm/RARE-Vtg-RCA...-/400844989748
Those knobs, described by the seller as "original" indicate either Walnut or Standard finish. I suspect that they are replacement, probably done in the 1980's with the other work. Usually the color under any removable trim, indicates the original color. The red color in many early RCA sets that carried a real wood finish (not photographically printed) tended to fade, and the CT-100 is the poster child of that fading.
Also, the solvent used with the wood filler can greatly change how the grain looks, if it turns white when it ages. That one bit me on most of the furniture that I built in the 1950's. My teacher, who was in his 80's at the time, taught me to use boiled linseed oil. I should have used mineral oil. followed by a very thin wetting coat to seal it in.
James.