Your first look: IHRS Summer Swap 2011 Photos

[Ron Ramirez]

The IHRS Summer 2011 Meet, held today at the Bartholomew County Fairgrounds in Columbus, Indiana, is now history.

While not too many turned out prior to the scheduled 8 am starting time, more people began to show up after 8 and it ended up being a really good meet with a fairly large turnout.

Since the weather was quite pleasant, most folks set up outside. Here's a shot showing many of the vendors. You can see my Buick Roadmaster just to the right of center in this photo:



A few people brought consoles to sell, but the vast majority of radios available were wood and plastic table models.



Tom Hunt from Kentucky was there - he's sitting on the tailgate of his truck in the photo below:



Bill Arnold from Indiana was also there, here's a photo of the items he brought to sell:



A few vendors set up inside the Family Arts Building:



The Vintage Equipment Contest was also held inside this building. There were four categories: Arvin, Depression Era Battery Sets, Depression Era AC Sets, and a category open to all radio and radio-related items. Surprisingly, although Arvin radios were manufactured in Columbus, no one entered any Arvins in the contest. Or, at least, none had been entered by the time I left around 10:30 am.

Here is a contest entry which I really liked. Unfortunately, due to operator error, the photo is a little blurry and does not do justice to this really nice set:



An Aladdin plain stem Washington Drape lamp was on display with the contest entries. I thought that was really neat, as I also collect Aladdin lamps:



In all, I thought it was a very good meet, well worth the drive which took me about 2 hours, 15 minutes from Ferdinand to Columbus.

You can see a slideshow of 25 different photos taken at the meet here:

http://s326.photobucket.com/albums/k420/...=slideshow

[codefox1]

Looks like a lot of fun. Getting ready to join the parade myself.

[Eliot Ness]

Thanks for the great report and pictures Ron!

The cathedral that you liked is an Atwater Kent 387 that belongs to IHRS member Michael Feldt. I've admired that cabinet for a long time and he finally found the correct chassis for it. Another picture and an interesting history of the set are on his website:

http://www.indianaradios.com/Atwater%20K...0Radio.htm

[TA Forbes]

Yes, the 387 is an uncommon set! Great story about how he aquired both the cabinet and the chassis!

In the farm country where I come from alladin lamps were a popular item with the generations previous to mine. Many rural locations did not have "high line" service, and kerosene lamps were used along with batteries and "farm power plant" powered lights. It was well known that an alladin lamp would burn as brightly as a 100 watt bulb. At least that was what we believed.

As I remember this, I also recall that there were still "ice-boxes" and washing machines that were powered by small two-stroke engines that were still used by some of the old folks. The engines were an item much desired by my friends and I to use to power home made go-karts. One fellow whose father owned a machine shop made mounts to affix it to his bicycle.

[Glenn Roberts]

Looked like a perfect day. Just couldn't get the time to go.

[Michael Dennis]

Is that a Philco model 20 Deluxe in the 3rd. photo? I would have loved to travel to this show, I have plenty of time to do so now, only I can barely walk, even with a cane now. Life's "fortunes".

Mike

[Ron Ramirez]

Yep, sure is. That was Tom Hunt's 20, and he also had an 80 Jr. and a January 1935 model 54C or 59C (I didn't look at it closely, so didn't get the actual model number).

Other Philcos I saw at the meet (and that you may see in the slideshow) included a 40-190 console, 39-17T, two different 89B cathedrals, a 38-7X console that needed a lot of help and TLC, and a couple 46-421 table model sets.

I picked up some tubes including two 6E5 tuning eyes for $7 each. I put one into my Magnavox Regency late last night, and sure enough, it was bright. Not as bright as a new tube, but a lot brighter than the nearly-dead 6U5 that was in there.

I also bought a Philco 60 chassis for $2, a very rough Philco Set Tester for $5, an AK 33 for $5 that is also going to need a fair amount of work, and a book - a biography of Sarnoff - for another $5. Debbie could not come along as she was under the weather, and when I talked to her on the phone not long before I left, she asked if there were any good plastic radios there. So...just before leaving, I walked around the tables again and found a little red Arvin which I thought she would like, for $20. Yep, she liked it!

Mike, I thought about you when I noticed Dr. Ed Taylor had a Hickok tube tester (I think it was a model 800, but not sure now) for sale there. But knowing you already acquired one at Lansing last month, I didn't think you would want another.

John - thanks for the model number of Michael's AK and the link to it on his site. That is a very impressive looking cathedral.

[Michael Dennis]

Hi Ron,

Thank you for thinking of me. I've been a little down since I lost my job. I did something to my leg, stressed it or something and I've been hobbling around with a cane lately, like I was an old man or something, which is patently ridiculous, of course. I tried racing my brother on a bike, he's the athletic one in the family, I guess I made a boo-boo somehow and stressed a muscle I'd never used much B4.

I had wondered about you since I hadn't heard from you in a while. I have your Philco book and it has been a great help, I was sure that one cathedral was a model 20 Deluxe. Thanks for the confirmation.

Yes, that Hickok 752A set me back a bit but i just had to glom onto it. Gotta strike while the iron's hot.

I hope you had fun at this most recent swap meet you attended.

Mike

[Michael Dennis]

I'm sorry your wife wasn't feeling well and glad she liked the Arvin you bought her. And glad you found a serviceable 6E5 so cheaply! Good deal!


Mike