Silvertone model 4663 tombstone working original circa 1938

[Tubejunke]

I have a super nice example of this radio that I have seen called the "holy grail" of antique radio in at least one place on the WWW. I acquired it around 1982 at the age of 13. I was drawn to it and had to have it. Seems like Dad let me trade a 22 rifle for it. It worked then and still works like new today. I have had to replace one original tube in all these years! Electronically it's bizarre really to have something that has lasted that long with no real repair, or very little.

I was just wondering if anyone here has, or has had one of these and if indeed it is such a great find. Any thoughts or comments would be great! The pic is not my actual radio. Mine looks that good or better. A guy has a site doing a restoration on one of these, so I snagged a shot from there. Reason being is that his pics are K byte sized and easy to upload here as opposed to using my camera which always produces pics in M byte size and that takes forever to upload on a dial up connection. Yes, some people still use dial up!

[Electronic M]

I don't think I've seen one before in person.

Having something that old work with out repair is unusual, but after enough radios pass through ones hands one does see it happen. I own around 130 collectable radios including in that count a few transistor sets, and I have a few examples that have continued to function all these years. Perhaps the oldest I have that worked as found is a 1932 Philco cathedral set which aside from replacement lytics that someone tacked in parallel with the originals back in the 40's judging by the age of the replacements still worked albeit with weak reception, and bad but listenable distortion(restuffing the paper block caps fixed it so well I've left the lytics be). I also have a 1940 Philco, and a 1946 Recordio that work real nice on stock caps. There are even more sets from the 50's onwards including TVs I have that are still running on more or less all vintage parts, but I find 50's onwards survivors much less remarkable than the older stuff.

One of my most prized radio sets also happens to be another uncommon Silvertone though newer and in a deco plastic case.

[dieseljeep]

I always look up the models that are mentioned on this forum, at Nostalgia Air.
It's located in volume 18, which came out 10 years after the set was built.
A transformer powered, Colonial-built, five tube plus tuning eye set.
Check to see if it still has the original 6X5G. They were famous for destroying the power transformer, especially when running on the original electrolytics.

I bet that's a sharp looking set in person. I've never seen one, but I like the deco look.

I can belive something that old still works. A few years ago I found a RCA BP-10 portable radio. It was made in September 1940, all original, and still had two vintage Eveready batteries in it. The flashlight style A battery had an expiration date of December 1940, and the 467 B battery had a date of January 1941. These had to be the original batteries that came with the radio. Neither one had leaked or was even bulging. The A battery still had the cardboard spacer around it. I figured someone might have gotten it as a present in 1940, didn't really care for it, stuck it in a closet, and was forgotten for nearly 70 years. It probably spent most those years in a/c, dry, away from light and vibration. I put new batteries in and it worked. I can't say it works great, and probably a recap would help a lot. But, I don't have the heart to change it. As they say, it's only original once.

[old_coot88]

You guys' finds are reminescent of a set I inherited in '08, an 'Apex' model 80 identical to this one -
http://www.radiomuseum.org/r/us_radi...0_case_80.html
It had been 'time capsuled' and the cabinet was absolutely pristine with original finish. Just needed a bit of polishing. Most recent service tag in it was from Feb. 1943. Built like a tank and weighed 95 pounds. Circuitwise it was a very close clone of a Majestic 70 with the identical tube lineup and separate 'big black box' power supply.

I figured it would surely have the usual gamut of problems- open audio transformers, bad filters etc. I wasn't interested in dealing with tar-potted components, and intended to offer it on Ebay 'as is' and untested. Then got to thinking what the heck, and decided to try a power-up with a 'dim bulb' setup and see what might happen. Up it came with no signs of overcurrent or shorts. And by golly it started working!! A slight hum but not in excess of normal for a radio of that vintage. With 10' of wire for an antenna it got all stations across the dial but a little deaf on the low end, so you just had to turn up the volume a bit to compensate. And dial calibration was correct.

Virtually 'working as found', the (then) 80 year old radio was the only set that ever passed thru my hands needing no repair work whatsoever (other than minor dusting/polishing). I never even pulled the chassis. It played for many hours rock solid and cool as a cucumber. The ancient oiled-paper filter condensers proved OK.

Since I had no need for a big console TRF radio, the question was what to do with it. So rather than just selling it to a private party I donated it to the Calif. Historical Radio Society's museum, figuring more people might enjoy it that way.
Bill(oc)

[truetone36]

My Apex Model 30 is still working like new on all it's original parts. My uncle got it in '62 and he gave it to me in '79. Still going strong after 84 years.

[bgadow]

I have that model Silvertone and really like it. I recapped it a number of years ago and it plays well. Several times when I set up a booth somewhere to demo my collection I've took that one along since it operates so reliably. I must have picked it up in the 90s at the flea market, for not too much money. Mine has more wear and tear than the one pictured.

[old_coot88]

Originally Posted by truetone36

My Apex Model 30 is still working like new on all it's original parts. My uncle got it in '62 and he gave it to me in '79. Still going strong after 84 years.

That's amazing. Before acquiring that model 80, i had never heard of the Apex brand. What's the model 30 look like anyhow?

Back on the Silvertone topic, i had been on the lookout for many years on the web for an example of our family's very first radio, and finally found one..
http://www.sfhobbies.com/sfhobbies/r...jpg&model=6123
This example has the bezel shrunk a bit from outgassing, and somebody has took a blue marker pen to the dial for some unknown reason.

[Sandy G]

The only thing I would worry about is the wax/paper caps dying...And POSSIBLY taking out SOMETHING that can't be replaced...

[truetone36]

The Model 30 is similar to the 80, but the cabinet is not as ornate.

[Tubejunke]

Originally Posted by dieseljeep

Check to see if it still has the original 6X5G. They were famous for destroying the power transformer, especially when running on the original electrolytics.

Oddly enough, that is the one tube that I replaced. There is a GT in there now, but everything runs cool. I learned long ago to check for overheating components. From time to time I remove the chassis and power it up to check things under there.

Anyway, this is not the only unrestored and working piece that I have. It is I think the oldest, but I have several 40s-50s radios and two TVs from that period that still work. A lot of it has to do with how much a set was used in the days when it was in regular use, and then how much dormancy there was, or has been since. I try to power up everything that I have at least once a year and just let them do their thing for maybe an hour or so. Now for long term or heavy usage I would feel better with new caps. As a tech, I know that getting the old caps out is the way to go, but a part of me loves the unrestored electronic miracles of sorts.

[DavGoodlin]

Originally Posted by Sandy G

The only thing I would worry about is the wax/paper caps dying...And POSSIBLY taking out SOMETHING that can't be replaced...

Replacing eletrolytics is always a good idea but if you need to pick n choose paper caps, the ones around the audio output and 120v line voltage areas fail in ugly ways sometimes.

BTW My only Silvertone is a 4569 with an ornate copper colored big round dial. I do not see many Silvertones, they always seems to be very attractive but yours is especially nice.

[wa2ise]

Thing is that wax caps will go bad used or not. Moisture from the atmosphere gets inside over time. The moisture then reacts with the acid in the paper, which in turn causes electrical leakage. I think the military did not allow defense contractors to use wax caps, and maybe your radio used mil spec caps (they got a good deal on surplus parts?).

[old_coot88]

Originally Posted by truetone36

The (Apex) Model 30 is similar to the 80, but the cabinet is not as ornate.

There was something curious about the Apex model 80. It had what looked like a copper oxide rectifier on the power supply box. Does the Model 30 use the same 'big black box' power supply as the Model 80? And is that gizmo indeed a copper oxide rectifier? If so, what's it for, speaker field maybe?

Back on Silvertone topic, this website is a really nice resource..
http://sfhobbies.com/

[toxcrusadr]

To the OP, that's a very nice radio, but being a 5-tuber I would not think that most collectors would place it in a holy grail category, at least electronically. Having said that, it's an unusual cabinet, and if it's a rare set, that may be what qualifies it. There's a similar Emerson with a curvy Ingraham cabinet called the Letterbox that is quite sought after. So the value may be in the cabinet on this one.

Re: Apex/Case 80: Funny you should bring this up, I've just been poking around in one of these. Thanks for posting the schematic oldcoot! BTW I actually have TWO of them...one braded Apex, the other branded Heritage on the escutcheon. Same innards. In the process of passing on the Heritage to another AKer who is local.