I attended the CC-AWA convention in Charlotte, NC today.
There were several TVs there.
One that created a lot of interest in, none of us could identity - it is a table top, priced right, wood, great condition, and nice looking:



Can you identify this TV?

By the time I got to it, it had a SOLD tag on it.

But, I did purchase a nice GE Locomotive.

Carl

How did they get it to hang on the wall like that?

Looks like the Electromatic set at ETF:

http://earlytelevision.org/electromatic_101.html

Similar to the super-desirable Farnsworth GV-260. But not a Farnsworth.

As noted in the ETF article, some people speculate that GV-260 cabinets (or perhaps entire TVs) were surplused off to this company.

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

Then $40 would be a great buy?

Carl

Certainly worth $40 in my book, probably more.

I think the original GV-260 design is cleaner:



Phil Nelson

There is a big dummy trying to take pictures with his cellphone camera:-)

I need to rotate the phone when taking pictures cause once they are uploaded into ARF, I can't rotate them.

Carl

You should have grabbed it rare set.

If it is an Electromatic, and everything is original, that price was a steal. That brand is extremely rare and I would expect it to be worth at least several hundred unrestored. Finding documentation to prove it is original could be interesting.

Someone got that for $40??
Probably worth 10-20 times that much,

You just ruined my evening.

I paid twice that much for just an empty cabinet.

At your service

Just goes to prove that you an find GREAT stuff at the Charlotte meet.

I've lost count of how many CRTs I've found or had others here
find for me. All Friday morning I kept having people point me too
CRTs in the Flea Market, or just come up and hand them to me
priced at little or nothing. One of the CRTs I got is about the size
of a lipstick tube.
See the photo below, the 1DP11 in in the middle.

I'm looking forward to getting home and sorting everything out.

I got to the TV pretty early after the flea market opened but by then it already had a SOLD tag on it. I understand that someone offered the purchaser $600.00 and he would not take it. I would have purchased it -- but then again, I would have no idea as to its value and collectability. I looked all over the cabinet and could not find a manufacturers name.

There was a Pilot TV there also - very nice. Included a green tube because the CRT was weak. Had some recapping done to it. Said he had it playing. After negotiating, would take $200.00. BTW, just about everything is negotiable and some things, like that unusual TV, were so fairly priced it was "honorless" to haggle over the price. This year I sensed that things were selling and selling much faster than last year. Might be folks were feeling better about the economic conditions.

There were several portable tube-based TVs there too - RCA and some others. One had a 17LP4 CRT - price was right, very nice condition with the SAMS folder, complete cute set but my back was aching and I passed.

I did purchase a GE Locomotive TV for $60 - it was nice, no cracks in the Bakelite, complete with knobs, as found condition. Still in the SUV. When I got home Friday night, I was too tired to unload. I'll post some pictures when I get it unloaded. (A little advice, the traffic out of Charlotte around 5:00pm is tough - I'd just hang around the event until 7:00pm or so) The past 2 years I stayed overnight at the Sheraton and next year might stay for all 3 days events if there are any seminars of interest to me and if the hotel has rooms.

Looks like it might be a good event for those who have TVs to sell to setup vendor spaces next year. When I was hand carrying my GE across the parking lot several folks commented on it apparently knowing something about the TV.

Good year for TVs.

Carl

Thanks Mal. Looks even better that way.

Carl

Thanks Phil. That is an interesting story.
Hope many of the historical stories like this will be preserved on the Internet.

Carl

That is a fantastic find for 40 bucks.



That photo on the TV history set is not actually the GV-260 but probably an Electromatic set as well. Here is a photo of my GV-260 cabinet. Note the additional control openings that Electromatic covered with a metal plate.

One of those Farnsworths with all the knobs was sold within minutes up at the Lansing show a few years ago, also for a very low price because the seller apparently did not know how rare it was.

I always wondered about that photo. The colors look too garish for any mainstream set of the time. This Farnsworth ad shows a more conventional color scheme.

Phil Nelson

Thanks for posting the Ad Phil. I have seen that before and find it interesting that they mention the model number for every other item in the ad except the TV and they don't mention the TV in the main ad copy. Like it was an afterthought and they had not decided on the model number yet and wanted to gauge reaction.

Yah, I suppose the TV wasn't quite ready for prime time, but Farnsworth wanted to assure customers that it was on the way. The ad also says "AM radio also available," although we now know that the GV-260 never included a radio (lack of room in that tabletop cabinet being the most obvious reason).

Phil Nelson