The PHILCO Phorum
Philco Furniture History - Printable Version

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+--- Thread: Philco Furniture History (/showthread.php?tid=21355)


Philco Furniture History - RON.BOUCHER - 05-25-2020

I'm wondering what the members of the Phorum know about a book called "Philco Furniture History".

Ron

RE: Philco Furniture History - Radioroslyn - 05-25-2020

Could it be what is listed in the Gallery?
https://philcoradio.com/gallery2/

RE: Philco Furniture History - RON.BOUCHER - 05-26-2020

That Gallery is awesome, but what I am talking about is an actual "book". It was never published, but may contain some of the information in the Gallery that is listed as "unknown".

When I did a Google search recently, all I found on the subject were a few forum message discussing it. Some thought it didn't even exist.

Ron

RE: Philco Furniture History - Ron Ramirez - 06-06-2020

Hello Ron. Nice to "see" you here. It's been a while since we corresponded.

I can tell you that yes, Philco Furniture History did and does exist. And since we last talked, I acquired a photocopy of the prewar portion of Philco Furniture History plus the 1946-47 models. I acquired this several years ago when I was looking to do a revised version of the Philco book - a project which did not work out. This was used as the foundation for the original Philco Radio Gallery that was on this site, now greatly improved and expanded. The production figures listed with each set in the Gallery were taken from Furniture History.

Furniture History, while quite comprehensive, did not cover every model or every variation. A number of what we call "Phactory Phranken-Philcos" have popped up in recent years which are not documented in Furniture History, but enough of them have been found to establish their authenticity. A model 52 grandfather clock is one example. A model 50 chassis in a model 70 Baby Grand cabinet is another. And there are others, mainly prior to 1936.

So if the Gallery does not give production figures for a pre-1948 model, Furniture History does not either.

Further complicating things, Furniture History does not distinguish between multiple Philco models that used the same cabinet - instead, they lumped the entire production of the cabinet into one figure. For the earlier models, the figures were broken down by cabinet manufacturer, but this was not done later on.

The original Furniture History book resides in the National Capital Radio & Television Museum in Maryland. It was formerly in the hands of a collector who was kind enough to make photocopies of its pages from 1928-1947 for me (of course, I paid for the photocopying and postage).

RE: Philco Furniture History - patrician56 - 06-07-2020

Hello,
Does the Philco Furniture History provide the names of the cabinet makers who provided Philco with cabinets? 
If not, is there another source that might provide that information?
I would imagine that cabinet providers would have been located close to Philadelphia due to the logistics of shipping.
Just wondering as I found pieces of a York, PA newspaper used as spacers between the door mounting pieces and the cabinet on my Norman Bel Geddes 112 highboy.
Thank you

RE: Philco Furniture History - RON.BOUCHER - 06-07-2020

Well… hello there.

I was digging through my old emails last year to find some of our old correspondence. I was looking for your email address to check in with you. I couldn’t find any of it and I don’t remember what it is I had to tell you!!  I don’t delete email like that so I don’t know where it all went. We communicated often when we did the Philco model 70B and 90B survey for ARC back in the 90’s.

I was looking up information about the model 90 consoles because I had a front panel to sell. The Philco Furniture History came to mind. I was curious to see if anyone had posted one online and my search only turned up conversations in which the writers were discussing whether such a thing even existed.

Fact of the matter is that I have a copy which I acquired from someone who at one time, worked with a company that had the original. When I supplied information to you to use in your first book, I included items that helped you to go all the way to 1942. I doubt very much that I would not have made my PFH available to you. So I may well have been that source of your first exposure to it.

Your website is very nice and professional. I’ll be here more often. I did spot a photo you included that showed the Philco design department and I was surprised to see how close I had come with the drawing I made that you included in your first book. Another fluke about that drawing is the date on the calendar. That turned out to be the date that the model 21 cabinet design was submitted for a patent. It made it to the cover of ARC and I got at least one comment that mentioned how closely the church across the street resemble the face of a model 90B.

RE: Philco Furniture History - RON.BOUCHER - 06-08-2020

According to the Furniture History, 12,043 of these were made. 11,243 were made by Red Lion starting  4/13/31. Strathroy Furniture made 300 and Canadian Furniture made 500. The finish was "1 filler, 3 lacquer".

It also goes on to list the types of wood used for the component pieces.

RE: Philco Furniture History - patrician56 - 06-09-2020

Thank you Ron,
Then Red Lion undoubtedly made the cabinet for the 112 Highboy that I have. 
There is a history of the Red Lion Cabinet company at this link:

https://yorkblog.com/universal/red-lion-cabinet-company-products-varied-during-wartime-and-peacetime/