Philco 45C Butterfly- A Philco Corporation property radio? -
hunter2115 - 06-26-2014
Just picked up a 45C "Butterfly", and started doing a bit of preliminary checks tonight. Looks all original except the electrolytics were changed out sometime in the past.
When I pulled the chassis, I noticed a stamping on the back of the chassis marking "Property of P.R.&T. Corp".
Im a bit slow, but after a while, I realized that this must stand for Philco Radio & Television Corporation.
Ive never seen a radio marked this way. Maybe it was a set that sat in someone's office in the corporate building?
Anyone else ever seen sets marked this way?
Probably no big deal, but its interesting!
The serial no. is C86915. Now, it would really be cool if it was serial no. 1!
So far, everything checks out ok. Lots of dust and a rusted up trans bell, but pretty good shape underneath.
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RE: Philco 45C Butterfly- A Philco Corporation property radio? -
Ron Ramirez - 06-26-2014
You are correct: "P. R. & T. Corp." stands for "Philco Radio & Television Corporation."
I have a 16 chassis with this stamping on the back of it. It came out of a 1935 16L cabinet.
I can't explain it, but can only take a wild guess: These may have been radios Philco retained for display purposes? And maybe after they were no longer needed, they were sold or given to Philco employees or executives?
RE: Philco 45C Butterfly- A Philco Corporation property radio? -
Chuck Schwark - 06-26-2014
Ron's got it, I believe.
Could have been displayed, not only in Philco dealerships, but
department stores and such, where there were many brands so
as not to get PRR&T "display" property mixed in with store inventory.
Probably sold off once that model year expired and new models showed up on a yearly basis, depending on market locations, turnover, etc.
I'd not seen that before myself. Neat!
Chuck
RE: Philco 45C Butterfly- A Philco Corporation property radio? -
Arran - 06-27-2014
It's possible that they used to be sales samples, you see that with some of the shoes that end up in Winners/T.J Maxx stores. The company representative would travel from store to store with a samples to show prospective dealers what each model was like before they would put an order in. Since they are usually early or even pre production they are often somewhat different then the full production models, see if there are any differences in the part and circuitry chosen or the cabinet from the usual model 45Cs.
Regards
Arran
RE: Philco 45C Butterfly- A Philco Corporation property radio? -
Randy H. - 06-28-2014
Serial Number '1' wouild be nice, but than how did Philco count serial numbers? Some outfits started wirh '1' as the first item of production, and just sequencially(sp) number until they went out of business or a new CEO came along with his own ideas.
Philco probably assigned batches of S.N's. for each different model. Additionally, it MAY be a coded number that shows run numbers, Model ID, dates, night watchman's key number, ETC.