The PHILCO Phorum
Availability & value of 1928 Philco 500 "coffin" sets. - Printable Version

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Availability & value of 1928 Philco 500 "coffin" sets. - Eric Smith - 05-19-2016

A few years ago I saw an example of a green 1928 Philco coffin set (I think it was a 512 or 513) with speaker at the Radio & Television Museum in Bowie MD and have been looking into possibly acquiring a working set without breaking the bank in the not too distant future. I saw a working version of one on Ebay a year or two ago but the guy wanted something like $500.00 for the whole setup which I thought was extremely excessive. My question is are these first Philco table models so rare that working versions command that kind of money or is the $500.00 price range a bit high like I've always thought?

RE: Availability & value of 1928 Philco 500 "coffin" sets. - Ron Ramirez - 05-19-2016

Yes, $500 is excessive unless it is the ultra-rare gold 515 "Impressionistic" in which case it *might* sell for that or more...

The common garden variety 511 "Spanish Brown" sets are worth less than $100. Probably more like less than $50. The 512 "Mandarin Red", 513 "Labrador Grey", and 514 "Nile Green" sets with painted flowers are worth more, maybe $75-150 if in good shape, but $500? No way...

RE: Availability & value of 1928 Philco 500 "coffin" sets. - Eric Smith - 05-19-2016

(05-19-2016, 08:24 PM)Ron Ramirez Wrote:  Yes, $500 is excessive unless it is the ultra-rare gold 515 "Impressionistic" in which case it *might* sell for that or more...

The common garden variety 511 "Spanish Brown" sets are worth less than $100. Probably more like less than $50. The 512 "Mandarin Red", 513 "Labrador Grey", and 514 "Nile Green" sets with painted flowers are worth more, maybe $75-150 if in good shape, but $500? No way...

He never sold it.  After several failed listings he reduced it to something like $450.00 and claimed that was a bargain. I was like "not hardly" and paid the listing no mind after that.

RE: Availability & value of 1928 Philco 500 "coffin" sets. - sam - 05-19-2016

I think kirk
Has 511 for sale don't know if he has speaker though

RE: Availability & value of 1928 Philco 500 "coffin" sets. - Arran - 05-20-2016

 There was someone in my region that had a model 511, or the succeeding 1929 equivalent. In his case someone had clearly repainted the cabinet and speaker, and fairly badly, but the seller insisted that it was all original simply because he bought it that way from the previous owner. I think that he wanted something like $150 for it, which he did not get as the craigslist ad expired and then it was reposted.
  Metal box table sets don't tend to be very valuable as a rule, even the famed Atwater Kent ones tend to be low dollar radios, probably because like 1950s "portable" TV sets they all tend to look alike, and the survival rate tends to be quite high. One of my favorites for looks is the Radiola 33, they are not rare but they tend to have problems with broken pot metal trim parts, the chassis inside isn't really anything special either. It seems that certain colours turn up more often then others in the 500 series metal box Philcos, the Labrador Grey 513 seems to turn up the most followed by the Mandarin Red 512 and the Nile Green 514 though that doesn't necessarily mean anything. If you find one make sure that it has the matching speaker to go with it, they were painted to match the cabinet.
Regards
Arran

RE: Availability & value of 1928 Philco 500 "coffin" sets. - morzh - 05-20-2016

Three 511 on eBay now.

There is one green from the same family, too, for a long time.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Vintage-1929-PHILCO-65-Metal-Box-Case-w-Lid-TUBE-RADIO-/391372171240?hash=item5b1f9967e8:g:uMQAAOSwL7VWpoqX