Hi. I have the cabinet only for an Atwater Kent Model 246 radio, which I bought years ago at an estate sale. The chassis and other original internal parts are gone. It looks as if someone converted this cabinet into a homemade P.A. system. The speakers and other parts inside don't look original to me (but I'm not a radio guy and could be wrong). Anyway, I'm taking this cabinet to a flea market radio show soon and am clueless as to what I should ask for it. Any suggestions on what a fair price would be? I assume a collector might want to use this cabinet with a chassis he/she already has in a restoration/rebuild project. My wild guess is it's worth maybe $100. Is that too high? Too low?

The cabinet is in good condition and looks complete and undamaged, aside from wood screw holes made inside to anchor the speaker and other added parts. The original brass plates are there, the knob at the bottom is present, and the grill cloth is in good shape. The veneer is undamaged but has light normal wear. It's a nice cabinet. I'll try to post a few photos.

My plan is to remove the added junk and sell the cabinet at the show. If there are no takers, then I'll try it on eBay. I wouldn't want to ship it with the non-original speakers because they weigh a lot and I'm guessing they do not add value. Thanks for any advice you can give.

Here are photos of the cabinet:

Agree the cabinet is in nice condition.
However, I believe that an extra hole was drilled for the control in the lower center of the cabinet.

http://www.radioatticarchives.com/radio.htm?radio=358

I wondered about that one hole too, but the photo on Radio Attic shows there was a control at bottom center.

The speaker was originally mounted to the radio chassis, and is not one of the two speakers present.

The value totally depends upon finding a buyer that already owns the chassis with speaker or has a complete set with a severely damaged cabinet. If such a person can be found, they will pay whatever they think the cabinet is worth to them. On pure speculation, someone who likes the cabinet because it is nice but doesn't have a chassis waiting to put into it is not going to pay very much, I would expect under those circumstances well under $50.

Typically at radio shows, most empty cabinets are a difficult sale unless they are from a high end set or a high demand set, or priced low. You can try and see.......

You are in luck- the hole is original. You are best off selling it on Ebay.

Pete

Thanks everyone for the replies. EBay has such wide exposure, that's probably the best way to find anyone looking for that cabinet. Maybe I'll take it to the show anyway and say "Make an Offer." If nothing else, it'll dress up my table and be a conversation piece.

I now see the control at bottom is not original, but -- luckily -- the hole is.

If you do sell it, I suggest removing all of the hardware (speaker, transformer, switch, etc.) so that all you have left is a truly empty cabinet. Having all of that modern and unoriginal hardware in there may have a negative effect on some prospective buyers. Provide a photo, off the internet, of an original AK 246 in order to show how original your cabinet is. Don't place any sales stickers on the cabinet because the weak glue on those paper stickers is still strong enough to discolor the finish and remove the finish when removed.

A lot of people don't like "make me an offer" type of situations. They tend to think that all your doing is fishing for a value without any real intent on selling, that whatever price they think is fair, you'll just automatically reject, that your not serious enough to research a realistic and definite price, or your just simply not serious enough in selling it at all. You just brought it along to show it and to converse about it.

David,
I have a 246 with chassis and speaker, but your cabinet looks better than mine. If you list it here on our classified section, or on ebay, I'll definately go $50 plus shipping (providing you remove all that's been added inside)

Thanks for the good advice, Indiana Radios. I definitely will remove all non-original equipment. I like your idea to have a photo off the net of the complete model 246 so they can compare it to mine. I'll put a note inside with the details so as not to ruin the finish, and decide on an asking price beforehand.

Thanks for the offer to buy it at $50, atwaterkentsrus. You're first in line if it doesn't sell at the show or on eBay. And I'll remove all the junk for shipping (it'll be removed before the show).

I would also suggest listing the speakers and transformer as a group starting at $9.99. These are all 1930's era and appear to be in good shape. I think you may be surprised at the final cabinet price.

That's a good idea. I figured the added parts were pretty old, given a note in dated 1945 explaining how to hook them up, but didn't know there were that old. I removed all the parts yesterday and noticed a patent date of 1918 or maybe 17 on the control that was in the bottom center of the cabinet, so I guessed that part may be older than the cabinet (although I think patent dates can remain on a piece of equipment that continues to be manufactured for many years.) The larger speaker looks like it could be WWII or older to me (I don't know radios), but the smaller one has a more modern look. Is that one also 1930s vintage? I was thinking maybe it was added later, after the 1945 remodel, and could be from the 1950s or even later. Any thoughts on that?

One thing I haven't removed yet is the cardboard and felt ring around the speaker hole. It looks like I may get into trouble with the grill cloth if I pull that stuff off. I could proceed carefully, or just leave it alone. I'm guessing it's not original because it looks too sloppy to be factory installed, and is stapled in place with what I'm assuming are modern staples, but I don't know. I'll post a photo later showing that area that is behind where the large speaker was.

Thanks for all your help, everyone. This is a great forum!

Many speaker grills were installed that way, but lets see the area.

Here's the inside of the cabinet with only the grill cloth, cardboard and felt remaining. Does it all look original?

Looks good to me.

Nice original cloth and cardboard!

Here is another original cabinet.

Wish this came up about a year ago-I had a 246 in a ravaged cabinet. Ebayed it and someone with cabient building skills took it on.

And to think I almost ripped out the cardboard and felt. Glad now I asked you folks. Thanks.

My Atwater Kent 246 cabinet did not sell at the Phonograph & Radio Flea Market. After reading the rules for selling items on this forum, I'm not sure I should have told Jimmy in an earlier post "you're first in line." It sounds like I need to just list it in the classifieds or eBay. I think I'll put it on eBay.

There was very little interest in radios at this show. It turns out the focus was on antique phonographs, not radios. Only three vendors were there selling phonographs, and I was the only one with radio stuff. I'd been to the same show about 10 years ago and it had many more vendors back then -- perhaps 20 with antique radios. I was told by a vendor at this show that "all the radio guys quit." Not sure if he meant they quit selling or quit collecting. I didn't sell any of the vintage test equipment I had brought. Nobody even looked at my Admiral floor model radio. I sold only one small 1950s tube radio and a small 1950s tube phonograph -- both not working and cheap. Plus a homemade transformer circa 1920s, cheap. It seems most of the shoppers were looking for 78 records, 1930 and earlier. I only brought four 78s and sold all of them for a decent price. The show was generally a disappointment for me, but I made just enough that I can't call it a failure. Next time, I'll bring more records, no test equipment or radio books (I only sold one book), and no big radios. Any comments on why this show would have been so much smaller than in former years? Everyone's buying on Ebay? A changing market?

David,
I'll be watching for it on ebay. I've got the chassis, speaker and knobs to make it complete.
Maybe I'll get lucky