The PHILCO Phorum

A third Philco 515 "Impressionistic" has surfaced. The owner graciously allowed me to share these pictures with you:







The paint on the lid had been damaged in the past, and someone had tried to repaint it. The owner is going to employ a commercial artist to repair the damaged lid, replicating the original colors.

There are still old, rare sets out there, waiting to be found. In the past few months we have gone from only one of these "Impressionistics" known to exist to three, and more may show up in the future. My friend Michael Prosise owns one, and the second sold here on the Phorum classifieds recently.

Wonderful find. If this is the rarest Philco what model would be number 2?

Steve Chambers

Actually, I would consider the 16PX Century of Progress chairside as the rarest of all Philcos.

http://www.philcoradio.com/gallery/1933c.htm#6

Only 75 were made, and none are known to exist. There may still be one or two floating around out there; maybe not.

Along with the 515, I would consider sets such as the Concert Grand, the 52 grandfather clock, and the 1932-33 radio-phonographs (22L, 23X, 24L, 25L, 26J & 27J) among the rarest of all Philcos.

It's never impossible for a rare radio to be floating around out there. There could be a Centry of Progress Philco model just waiting for someone to discover it out there! I've had my share of rare finds both radio and in antique machinery. I have a tiny console radio that appears to be the only one of its kind left. An Air Queen built by Air King.

Two of my AK radios came from right here in the town I live in, from a gentleman who had them in his 100+ year old home. Yes, I agree that they are still out there waiting to be discovered and loved by we collectors. Just talking about them to people you meet will often turn one up.

I really believe that for every one that appears on eBay or Craigslist, there are 10 more undiscovered. THAT is exciting!!

Quote:A third Philco 515 "Impressionistic" has surfaced.

Actually, I firmly believe the third 515 is the same 515 that sold on the Phorum. I recognize the photos, and remember the owner of the photos telling me he sold it here. So in reality there exists only two, to the best of my knowledge. I was very involved in bringing the existance of this second 515 to light.

Short story on this event: One day out of the blue I received an email from someone (in CA!) requesting my assistance in verifying that he had a 515. He was/is not a radio collector and was considering tossing it in the trash he said, adding his wife & he had grown tired of looking at it. I found it hard to believe another set existed after the extensive search I had conducted decades ago that included asking many museums and big names in the collecting world if they had ever seen one; (which is how I found mine).

Over a period of a few months of my sending questions and requests for photos of specific areas of the 515, I informed him that in my expert opinion it was very likely he did indeed have one. I also (at his request) offered what I thought the value was. Being poor I couldn't afford to buy it, but being an honest sort I had to give him a true price range.

I truly regret not somehow finding a way to purchase it, for it has ended up in the hands of a very evil person, who at this moment is probably stripping a 511 (Spanish Brown) and using his expert artistic ability to produce a fake 515. This was his plan I was told by an insider. And to think this guy is the President of a radio club just turns my stomach. In fact he has already done this with several of the so-called Philco "flower" sets. It is so wrong. So wrong.

Ron Ramirez Wrote:Actually, I would consider the 16PX Century of Progress chairside as the rarest of all Philcos.

http://www.philcoradio.com/gallery/1933c.htm#6

Only 75 were made, and none are known to exist. There may still be one or two floating around out there; maybe not.

Along with the 515, I would consider sets such as the Concert Grand, the 52 grandfather clock, and the 1932-33 radio-phonographs (22L, 23X, 24L, 25L, 26J & 27J) among the rarest of all Philcos.

The ones that I am wondering about are a lot newer, like there was apparently a console version of the 40-780 Philco Tropic that I have, and there were a few other Philco Tropic consoles allegedly produced according to the gallery, the table versions come up from time to time but are not exactly common either. I really need to take some photos of my 40-780 (once I dig it out) the catalog picture really doesn't do it justice.
With regard to the counterfeit 515s, hopefully with a little more research a factory marking of some kind will be arise that will stop that sleazeball from pawning off his copies as the real thing to unsuspecting buyers. Then again spreading the word that if party X is selling a 515 that it's authenticity is likely suspect, should be enough, all you would have to mention is that he was contemplating reproducing them, which is true.
Regards
Arran

I have a 1930 TRANSITONE auto radio, accually built by "AUTOMOBILE RADIO CORP", Philco bought them out ,in the 14 years I've owned it I have NOT found another one! I really cann't believe I've got the only one left! This search for another one is what brought me to this Web Sight, and renewed an old interest in vintage home radios. BILL

Unfortunately for those of us who own what may well be one-of-a-kind-left radios, value and rarity are too very different things. I've got a nice 14-tube Espey console and some table radios which are in that category, but doubt they are worth much. I hope everyone takes the time to take some good photos (not just front, but back, chassis, etc.) and post any such models on Radio Museum.

Stephen,

This is the Philco Phorum, which is a part of Philcoradio.com, a website owned and operated by me. It is not appropriate to come here to ask people to donate Philco photos to any website other than Philcoradio.com.

I have a Philco Gallery which covers the years 1928 through 1960. It is quite comprehensive, and of all those years, only a very few pictures are missing. However, the Philco Gallery includes a large number of black and white and poor quality color photos. I am always interested in obtaining better photos of Philco sets for the Gallery. Everyone benefits from better photos of Philco sets in the Philco Gallery, so that others may use these as a reference, for identification, etc.

For the most rare Philco models, anyone owning one of these is also welcome to furnish photos from different angles and provide a small write-up about the set; I would consider adding these as separate pages on my site.

If anyone has sets other than Philco, they are most certainly free to donate photos of these to the website of their choice. For that matter, anyone is free to donate Philco photos to whatever website he or she chooses. But to come here to ask for Philco photos to be donated to another site is, again, inappropriate.

I have a bit of a problem with suggesting someone post something on radiomuseum on this or another forum in part because it's a pay site, even if you don't pay you have to join and submit something before you can make use of it. So what happens if you are new to the hobby, don't have any schematics, and only have a few sets, it doesn't seem all that helpful does it? I think that photos of odd or rare Philcos should be submitted to Mr. Ramirez and Philcoradio.com since he is one of the defacto historians of Philco.
Regards
Arran

I wasn't specifically suggesting Philco radios, so please don't be offended. Of course, this is a good place for people to put photos of Philco radios. However, I also hope they are also put elsewhere. Photos on both the various brand-specific sites and Radio Museum seems most likely to still be available 20 years from now.

Just stating that Radio Museum is a pay site without details is quite misleading. By and large, it is a one time payment of $25 or some such trivial amount. Anybody who can't afford that has no business spending money on this, or any other, hobby.

FStephenMasek Wrote:I wasn't specifically suggesting Philco radios, so please don't be offended. Of course, this is a good place for people to put photos of Philco radios. However, I also hope they are also put elsewhere. Photos on both the various brand-specific sites and Radio Museum seems most likely to still be available 20 years from now.

Just stating that Radio Museum is a pay site without details is quite misleading. By and large, it is a one time payment of $25 or some such trivial amount. Anybody who can't afford that has no business spending money on this, or any other, hobby.

Yes, but still if someone is starting out, as they so often do, with something they inherited or picked up at a garage sale, and they are unfamiliar with antique radios but want to find out more about them, then sending $25 off into space doesn't make a lot of sense when you don't know whether you are dealing with trash or treasure. Whether its' a one time payment or not it's still a pay or trade site, that's good if you are an experienced collector who knows what he is looking for but not for a beginner who needs to know that the right tube has to go in the right socket or not to plug in a set that hasn't been turned on since 1965.
Regards
Arran

Ron, will you update the gallery with a picture of a real 515 instead of the replica currently presented there?

I will ask the owner's permission to use one of the photos in the Gallery. Thanks for the good idea.

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Now, as for the continued talk about a certain pay site, let's review Section V of the Phorum Rules.

Quote:V. Sending people away from the Phorum.

A. People come here to receive assistance. We are a community dedicated to Philco and related subjects. If a discussion is started here or a question is asked that relates to Philco, please do not send them to some other forum. If you want to link to a specific resource or tutorial on outside forums, that is fine, but simply telling people "you should post over at..." or "have you tried over at..." is not appropriate. It can frustrate members looking for solutions and not more forums to post in.

B. This also applies to forums associated with vendors of various radio parts, tubes, services, etc. Referring people to the vendor website is perfectly acceptable, as is referring them to specific resources, threads or tutorials in their forums; but telling them simply to go post or search in some other forums is not. Please remember, at all times, that they came here for the answer.

http://www.philcoradio.com/phorum/showth...p?tid=3126

In my opinion - and Chuck and I are the final arbiters when it comes to the Phorum Rules - we are coming close to violating these rules (at least in spirit, if not in letter) with all of this talk about a certain pay site and sending photos there. I have therefore decided (reluctantly, I might add) to close this thread as I only see it going downhill from here.

I do not intend to turn this Phorum into a "police state" type of forum with heavy-handed moderating, nor would I want to see that happen. But at the same time, we do have rules here and I am serious about enforcing these rules.

That's all. Next case.