The seller of this reproduction 4333 breadboard does not disclose in his auction that it is actually a recent reproduction TA5 Island. Only the Coupled Circuit Tuner is an original item dating from 1923.

There were a batch of TA5 Islands reproduced with thermoplastic lids about 35 years ago by a notable expert who also produced reproductions of a few other uncommon AK items. The repro TA5's were fitted with Bakelite control knobs taken from a common AK model 20.
There is no way he could play dumb and not have known it's a reproduction set. You'd quickly know it was a fake if examined in person, since the lid is spongy when pushed on, as it's molded of brown plastic.
The brass tube collars were salvaged from the same model.

For the n00b's and uninitiated; The model 20 knobs include a decorative ring in the center, whereas the originals had none. The smooth surface knobs were exclusive to the TA5 island. It's the flag that one of these reproductions has surfaced again.

Here's an image of an original TA5 island for comparison (my image)

Edit: after a close look I noticed that the CCT is also a reproduction thermoplastic item. There are visible telltale bubble voids at the sharp corners of the molded base.

Hey Jeff, Did you see in his completed auctions he also sold another Breadboard, boy are these buyers gonna be surprised!!!
Rock

Ya know...I'm not really offended by re-creations as long as they are stated as such. Guys like Kris Gimme and Gerry Wells in the UK (recent thread) did some fine recreations and owning a piece of their work is kinda interesting because they will always be majors in the hobby.

Repo board with no tongue and grooved ends, either
xeric

Hi Rock, I saw that one too. The selling price may have indicated the buyer knew it was built up from parts. Or maybe not.

And Jack, I'm with you on that. A good repro item is a great conversation piece all by itself.
I have other AK repro items in the collection by Weingarten and Matson, and they're always good for conversation.

Xeric, I wondered how they were able to keep the ends of the board on without the tongue and groove

The seller replied to the ebay message I sent him about it being a repro, and stated it was at a different location than he was.
He will have a look at the set later to determine if the parts are reproduction. He appears legitimate. I can't imagine that he didn't really know.

I suppose these thinks happen because:
Twelve years back at Doc Muchows auction, a prominent collector at the time paid $8k+ for Doc's reproduction Model 5 -not knowing it was a Matson reproduction.
Many of the old-timers who were experts with AK breadboards knew it was a repro, and who had made it, but nobody had alerted his family or Estes about it's history. And I didn't know either. The bids were flying, and nobody in the senior group knew who they were.
I had arrived fresh in from the left coast with a pocketful of cash, and put up a bid on it, where immediately a dear old friend grabbed my arm and whispered that it wasn't real. That was how I found out.
It was also part of the discussion at a group dinner with the senior collectors following that days auction results.

Thanks very much for the info Jeff. I've made a note of your info and now will be on the alert in the future.

Pete AI2V

The seller updated his listing to include the following:



He stops short of admitting it is a reproduction TA5. Only that the parts inside the TA are not original.
His glasses might be dusty, since the circular rings in the center of the model 20 control knobs are visible in his images.
I didn't explain to him earlier that the voids in the sharp edge of the TA5 lid (and the tuner base), are a result of trapped moisture in the plastic pellets during the molding process. The bubbles could appear like a herd of little chips around the circumference.

There are two more flags, but I'd rather not post them here and clue him in.

Even being a repro, it has value to collectors.
It's wiser to admit it and market it as a reproduction, otherwise he risks a difficult mess with ebay/paypal when the buyer finds out on receipt that it was a completely fabricated radio (AKA fake).
Perhaps he'll hook a sucker in Europe/Asia with a big snipe bid at the end.

Seems to be of a lower quality than Roland Matson's reproductions. I had, a Type II tuner he made and it was a little rough around the bottom edge, and a dual crystal detector which was made from the wrong type of plastic .

Problem is in the 80's several people were reproducing them, and many were very poor copies.

Did anyone also see the tag on the TA island? I instantly thought fake when I saw it.. the lettering and colors don't look right. Like a poor quality copy of one.

If you look at the tag on the tuner base, the effect of the photo etch is somewhat evident.
Original brass tags were stamped with a die, then oxide processed and paint fill inside the logo circle.
The tags on this set were photo etched from a mold of an original, and the effluent leaves a flow trail visible in the relief.
Some of the print detail is lost in the molding process too.

I'd like to know for certain who the builder was. The seller was told it could have been Ralph Williams.


UPDATE:

With regard to the reproduction model 5; it is a fake, built almost entirely from scratch.
The lid is a cold-cast brown tinted epoxy, and was very well made. Dimensions are spot-on when compared to an original. Wiring inside was awful, and looks to have been made in the early eighties. The tuner base was cast using the same material. A real AK bakelite variometer rotor and half of it's outer shell were used for the other parts comprising the 4051 tuner.

And turns out to be the actual AK 4333 set from Doc Muchow's collection. It's been through two owners since the auction at Elgin in 2001. Images I took on Aug 04 2001 of Doc's model 5 exactly match this set's characteristic nicks in the board finish, as well as the butted ends of the breadboard.

Hopefully it will remain in my collection for a few more decades.