1947 Rca 721 How Many Were Made??

[edison64]

Just wondering how many of the 721's were made?? i got one about 20 years ago from an elderly neighbor, and just last Saturday i got a call from a lady who had a couple old tv sets to give away, just for hauling away. they were up in the attic (back spasams here i come) i went to look thinking probably just 80"s boat anchor unibrand sets. WOW was I wrong, i pulled up to the house, nice older victorian three story, a 60ish lady showed me to the attic she pointed to a blanket, here they are, they were 1 rca 721 and a firestone 7in electrostat set, all look like they were used verry little.
she refused to sell them, just haul em away, we are selling, and need to get rid of thease. i have been in to old tv and radio repair for about 30 years as a hobby and never saw anything like this !!!!!! Now i have 2 of rca sets, i will post pix soon. sorry for the long winded story, but i get excited when i think about it ps. love the forums

[Adam]

Not the sort of set you find every day, but I don't think they're super rare. You can see the picture on mine in my avatar, it's the oldest (working) set I have.

[Sandy G]

Still, I think that's a heckuva good score !

[zenithfan1]

Me too! Got me jealous {big grin} I am happy for you, thanks for savin' 'em
I really want to see those pics!

[Dave S]

I love stories like that! (Stuff is still out there to be found.)

[edison64]

Here are some pictures of thr rca and firestone, they look much better i person

Originally Posted by edison64

Just wondering how many of the 721's were made?? i got one about 20 years ago from an elderly neighbor, and just last Saturday i got a call from a lady who had a couple old tv sets to give away, just for hauling away. they were up in the attic (back spasams here i come) i went to look thinking probably just 80"s boat anchor unibrand sets. WOW was I wrong, i pulled up to the house, nice older victorian three story, a 60ish lady showed me to the attic she pointed to a blanket, here they are, they were 1 rca 721 and a firestone 7in electrostat set, all look like they were used verry little.
she refused to sell them, just haul em away, we are selling, and need to get rid of thease. i have been in to old tv and radio repair for about 30 years as a hobby and never saw anything like this !!!!!! Now i have 2 of rca sets, i will post pix soon. sorry for the long winded story, but i get excited when i think about it ps. love the forums

Great sets from an even greater person.
She sounds like the sorts of people I grew up around making me think everybody's like that!

[Steve McVoy]

RETMA figures show that 116,000 table model TV sets were made in 1947. RCA was the largest manufacturer - I would guess they were responsible for 30-50% of the sets. The 630 was still being made and sold. Assume that half of RCA's table model sets were 630 and half were 721s, that would translate into 17,000 to 29,000 721s.

[edison64]

Hello to all, first let me say, You Steve have the best site i have seen. I travel through columbus about 3 times a year, the next time, I'll visit. the numbers you came up with are on the lines i was thinking. Now out of that, I wonder how many survive, and how many are working? Might be an interesting database to start. although this is an early "big screen" I wonder why it's not as popular as the 630 or 621 to me this is a verry attractive set,

[kbmuri]

I have one. I got it a year ago at Steve's annual convention in Columbus. If you can coordinate your tri-annual travel through Columbus with his May convention this year, go for it. It's not a disappointing event.

The 721 is not as popular as the 621 because the 721 isn't the "first year". My understanding is it's essentially the same TV, except the 621 has a smaller and unobtanium 7DP4 crt, the 721 has an easier-to-find 10BP4. The 621's cabinet was designed before the war, so it has an "essence" of a pre-war set. That makes it popular too.

I wouldn't say the 721 is less popular than the 630 though. I think there are a lot less 721 survivors than 630s. I think the two have about equal bidding appeal and prices on eBay.

Mine doesn't work yet. The CRT and tubes check good and everything's there. I'm just saving it (and my Zenith color roundie) for a time when I'm more experienced at restoring. Doing less valuable & less difficult ones first until I'm confident. I expect it to work fine later.

[Adam]

Interesting, I would have thought the 721ts was more common than 630ts just because it was newer, but then I guess one year wouldn't make that much difference. As far as old 10" RCAs, I have a 721ts, 630ts, and a T100. The 721ts is restored (although I never could get that split sound IF quite right). The 630ts and T100 are in really bad shape, at the moment my thoughts are to probably part out the T100, but see if I can salvage the 630ts, but if I find a more complete 630ts first, I'll probably just keep the one I have as a parts set. And I think I like the looks of the 721ts better than the 630ts too.

[bgadow]

I have a 721; mine has a dead vertical that I have had no luck fixing. They do have a nice style.

[edison64]

Here is a pix of the Firestone, mod # 13g3 with a 12 chan tuner, this set looks like new! but needs a new ballast tube. cant wait to get her going again. the ballast is most likely the reason the set was retired.