[hposter]

Hi All! It Harry Poster here, from harryposter dot com. I see the current discussion, and couldn’t let it go by, without offering my side of it.

I realize that most collectors find it heresy to ‘butcher’ an old TV, but there is some redeeming value to my Posterizing these sets (Color Conversions).

First, let me say, that any TV I pick up is offered online. If it’s complete when I buy it, I offer it As Found, complete, untested. Any collector, or hobbyist can buy it that way. I also offer sets as Empty Props, complete, but minus the CRT and chassis (which, if salvageable, I offer to collectors, or list on ebay, usually starting very cheaply). Nearly every set I sell as a Color Conversion, with the CRT and chassis pulled, and a new, color TV, mounted inside, has the extra parts offered for sale, if they are at all useable.

To be fair, about 1/2 the sets I buy, I get empty. If I buy them from a collector, I occasionally pay the same price, but ask them to keep, and reuse, the chassis and CRT. Often, a collector will have the TV cabinet, empty, and they just don’t want to find the parts needed to restore it. Also, when I get sets from the old TV shops, many just have the empty cabinet, or the cabinet and some miscellaneous spare parts.

Plus, there are those clunkers, with mouse-ruined chassis, tops destroyed, or chassis, knobs and trim lost years ago, that are salvaged, cleaned and refinished, or painted, and then offered and sold as props or CCs. And, like several recent sets I’ve sold, early color TVs, pre-wars, interesting or unusual older sets, all stay exactly as found, and are offered on my site or online. Even the 1960s and 1970s TVs that are still working, are sold as a Working TV, the way it was originally marketed.

Over the years, hundreds of individuals have spotted my page, realize that old TVs are saleable, and then ask the value, and where to sell their sets. Nearly always, I try to give them a realistic value, and suggest the local Radio Club that’s appropriate. A few lucky times, I’ve been able to buy a TV set from a local individual, who would otherwise dispose of the TV on recycle day.

Even the sets that end up as my Color Conversions, make an impression. I’ve had people say, 'Wow! I saw Avalon' (yeah, I propped that), or Driving Miss Daisy, or the Henry Ford or Disney Museum, or the JumboTron with a print ad, 'and it’s great. I love those old TVs, and never realized they were still around'. If reliable vintage sets were not available, many movies and museums would not have used any set at all.

Thanks to all that responded to this thread, and hopefully, even if you hate the process, you’ll see that occasionally, it’s justified, and actually creates interest in collecting vintage televisions! More than a few people on this forum have bought vintage TVs from me. . . including many Pre-wars, CT-100’s and a Westinghouse 15”, experimental color CRTs, 621’s and 630’s, 8-301W’s, Flying Saucers, VideoCapsules, and lots of tubes, CRTs, chassis, knobs, and..and..and.