Estate Sale Finds In 2008!

[andy]

...

[drh4683]

Today was a special estate sale that I attended. It was at 6953 W. 63rd St. in Chicago.
I came to find out that the people who lived at this home worked for Zenith. There were numerous Zenith products throughout the home. A neighbor was at the sale who told me all about them (Scully and Cecilia Santucci). They both worked for zenith on the production line after WWII. They apparently worked there until retirement sometime in the 1970's-early 80's.

As you would expect, some old Zenith TVs were found. Thats about all that was left too. I was told by others at the sale for the second time that there were tons of NOS zenith tubes, radios and transistor radios, all of which were bought up the first day of the sale. There was also zenith schmatics and other zenith related items that sold quickly. Supposedly, there was a yellow royal 500 that some collector found, and it was unknown to the collectors that a yellow 500 was ever produced. All we could think of is that it was some kind of prototype. This guy turned the house upside down trying to find the missing battery cover for it today! No luck though.

The TV's as usual were totally ignored. I was able to save all of the "old" sets. There were three of them. First set was in the back room, a 1965 Zenith rectangular color set, which is the first generation rectangular chassis (25MC36). Next two sets were downstairs, a 1973 4 tube hybrid w/cart, and a 1963 Zenith b/W console. The b/w console had the factory UHF tuner which is a rare find.

I looked all over the house to see if I could come up with anything related to zenith other than just some TV's. Well, I got extemely lucky and found a box of photograph that were for sale, just a few photos thats all.......I'll post the photos and other items later on.

[Carmine]

That B&W set is really nice... Can you be sure there were no other TVs bought the day before? Maybe there was a mashed spot on the carpet where a one-of-one porthole color set once stood?

Could you tell what there daily watcher set was? I'd hate to think these people were forced to watch some blurry $150 Wal-Fart Chinese crapbox in their final years.

Either way, great finds.

[joemama99]

That 1965 zenith really brings back memories.My best friends parents owned one of those,and I spent many hours in front of it.It must be a space command,as I remember that the tuner was motorized.Great find,doug!

[zenithfan1]

Great finds! I really like the "stand" that the B/W set has. You also do not ever see the Zenith rectangulars that are that old. You are one lucky dog!! The sales around here SUCK! It has been several years since I've found exciting things like that at the estates.

[drh4683]

Went to five sales today. First one was in Bartlett, I found a '65 zenith roundie console. Sitting in the basement, untouched. No idea if it works, did not attempt to power it up yet.
Next sale was in Park Ridge. I found this '68 zenith concentric tuner console. It was actually on craigslist, but part of an estate sale going this weekend. It was in the garage waiting to be thrown away if nobody would take it.
Last find was a 1972 or so RCA mural TV in Berwyn. Definitly a hotel model as it has the blank off panel on the back for the controls. This set has a tag from ITC in Berwyn, dated 6-23-76. I bought a philco hotel color set that had this same tag on it. Im curious if this ITC place sold used/repaired hotel sets to the public? I guess its typical of an RCA hotel set to have its model tag ripped off. Yet to see if this one works or not. I didn't save the motorola on the side, the back cover was broken into pieces.

[radiotvnut]

Nice finds! You've been having pretty good luck with finding TV's over the past few weeks. I once had an RCA hospital set that was almost identical to yours. Mine had the motorized tuner with the socket on the back cover for the pillow speaker. It was actually a pretty good performer.

[drh4683]

Yes, the last few weeks have been good. Hopefully the trend continues. I need a trend of having more space though!
I took the back off the roundie before powering it up. Yikes, I was caught by complete surprize with what I saw. a mallory 160@250 blew up like a bomb. Considering that there is no dust on the capacitor guts, Id be willing to bet this happened durring the estate sale. The back was off, so there are some fresh dust disturbance marks in places. Someone probably went ahead and turned it on to see if it worked and then the bomb blew off. Most likely the estate sale people tried to turn it on so they could determine the what to price it at. I guess $10.00 was good for a broken TV! The electrolite is still pretty tacky to the touch, and should hopefully clean up OK. There is spatter all around though.

[Eric H]

Wow Doug, that's awesome!

I wonder if that happened recently, the soot looks newer than the rest of the dirt, I'm guessing the seller tried plugging it in sometime before you got it, did he seem nervous and shaky?

[drh4683]

Eric, I just edited my post while you were typing yours, yes, I think it did happen durring the sale.

[rcaman]

he he he wouldnt you liked to have been a fly on the wall when that happened.

[batterymaker]

Warning--plugging in dormant TV's may cause soiled underwear....

[drh4683]

I disconnected the exploaded cap and clipped in a new cap just to see what would happen. As I waited for it to warm up, I then pressed in the breaker to reset it. On comes a picture. Tube is a little weak, its a channel master rebuild, its green but after a few minutes it seems to get better.

[bgadow]

Amazing stuff! Lately it looks like you're catching fish in a barrel. Really cornering the market on those Zeniths!

[Kiwick]

ouch! that capacitor could have smashed the CRT when it blew up!