Sorry if this is a re-post.

How legit is this radio? Just wondering. The price reasonable? Seems to me I've seen them before but with a darker in finish, and the handle for some reason doesn't look right?

http://www.ebay.com/itm/A-SUPER-CLEAN-1 ... 1e70fb05f9

He did mention the Trylon-Perisphere had been repainted.

Does anybody know how many different radio company models were released as 1939 World's fair radio's?

I'd seen and love that Zenith 5-r-317 with the glass tubes. How rare are they? How rare is this RCA?

Yuck!
Yes, I agree that it looks terrible. Seems someone tried to scrub the front clean and ruined it. It likely could be restored, but I'd sooner pass for a nicer example.
You can see the drastic difference with an original set -

I have refinished the fronts on a few of these. In the good years we sold these for $1000-$1200.

It will be interesting to see what the end pricetag is on this one. They are rarer than the Zenith worlds fair radio. The one I have also is darker on the front than this one.
John k9uwa

A red flag with the fake Emerson Mickey Mouse radios is the overall fit and finish. Look at the fit of the repwood front on the subject auction and compare to how flush the front fits (edge to edge) in the above photo. I'm not saying its definitely wrong, but its really off for an RCA product.

Cliff

I agree! It does look like some kind of repo. Something just doesn't sit right with me as I look closely at it. I would definately pass on it.

Well this is the first time I'd ever seen one on eBay, and looked at one closely.

I'd read a earlier post by someone on ARF sometime ago maybe this is the "Blond Edition" of the radio

I do like the radio, would love to have one of these and the Zenith, and a winning lotto ticket huh?

Not holding my breath for either.

Repwood can and does Warp.
John K9uwa

The eBay one looks very fake to me, maybe they're using reverse psychology?

"If I make it bad enough and lie about it being a repro, they will BELIEVE it, because they wouldn't believe someone would try to pull it off!"

It's just... the fact that they're ranting and raving about how "clean, A+" it is, just seems like they aim to distract.

IMHO... I would be skeptical of ANY radio that is known to be valuable, particularly the reps... Micky Mouse, Snow White, etc.
Where are all the fakes of the rare, unknown radios?

Nick,

My feelings exactly, when they rant and rave to much I get suspicious big time!!!

I'm not sure whether the radio in the first auction has a repro front panel or it has simply been scrubbed (or stripped). For comparison, here's the cabinet from a model 40X-56 that's sitting in my shop waiting for attention:



I put a high-res version of my photo here:

http://antiqueradio.org/art/temp/RCA_40 ... _HiRes.jpg

Apart from the obvious differences in color and wear, I notice occasional veining or cracking in the eBay panel that's not apparent in mine. However, that might be hidden by whatever finish the factory put on it. Or, possibly not every panel was identical in the first place. These things were made by humans, not robots.

The rest of the cabinet looks kosher to me. I don't know why someone would put a fake front on an authentic cabinet.

Just thinkin' out loud . . . .

Phil Nelson
Phil's Old Radios
http://antiqueradio.org/index.html