Philco on eBay

[Don Lindsly]

That CRT should be handled as little as possible. Removing it will pose more risk than leaving it where it's been for 55 years. Philco CRT mounting assemblies were among the best. I doubt there's a safer way to pack it. I have bought new 12WP4s about 50 years ago. They were packed in special 12 inch picture tube boxes.

If you remove the tube, you will need to figure out how to package it. It has a fragile neck and a fragile vacuum tip on the side of the tube and must be handled like a giant wine glass. Less handling is better, even on the bench. At Philco, we fashioned adapters so we could work on the chassis using test jigs without involving the picture tube.

I do recommend removing some CRTs, like early 10 inch RCA tubes, because they just sort of lay in place and are not secured. They are almost guaranteed to break. It is a judgment call, based on the particular TV.

I have gotten 1208s via common carrier, with normal packing, and everything arrived intact. Perhaps I've been lucky.

If transporting the TV yourself, I recommend rear seat, face down, on a thick blanket so you don't damage the controls. Make sure the chassis is bolted, seatbelt, and it will be stable.

Good luck. That's a fun TV with several innovations for its time, and also its share of idiosyncrasies.

Don