[jerryhawthorne]

Looking to see if anyone can give me height, width and depth for a 1931 Philco model 90 high boy (one with closing doors on the front). Thanks for your help.

Jerry

[Ron Ramirez]

Height - 39-7/8"
Width - 23-15/16"
Depth - 13-5/16"

From Philco Furniture History

[jerryhawthorne]

Thanks Ron, it may fit real nice where I would like another console. Wife likes the looks of it.
Jerry

[Ron Ramirez]

Very good! It always makes a positive difference when the wife approves of a radio, especially a console.

[jerryhawthorne]

Thanks Ron, now that we know it will fit. Well, he says it works, and totally original. Finish from the few pics he posted look good. Need to see some more pics, he missed the top and the speaker. From the front it looks great. Chassis looks good, no rust other than the tube covers but every thing looks original. Wants $250. Is this in the ball park? Bearing in mind, I'm getting older and this may be my last restoration for at least me. How many consoles can you have in your house? I only listen to my radios off my home transmitter, well, we do have a couple of "local" AM stations but other than that, my Scott with a longer antenna for any other AM. I don't need anything with DX capabilities. What do you guys think?

Jerry

[Arran]

hanks Ron, now that we know it will fit. Well, he says it works, and totally original. Finish from the few pics he posted look good. Need to see some more pics, he missed the top and the speaker. From the front it looks great. Chassis looks good, no rust other than the tube covers but every thing looks original. Wants $250. Is this in the ball park? Bearing in mind, I'm getting older and this may be my last restoration for at least me. How many consoles can you have in your house? I only listen to my radios off my home transmitter, well, we do have a couple of "local" AM stations but other than that, my Scott with a longer antenna for any other AM. I don't need anything with DX capabilities. What do you guys think?

I would say $250 is an out in left field price if it still needs an electrical restoration, even if the cabinet is in nice shape. He says it works is meaningless unless he can demonstrate the thing playing, some people's definition of working is a hum coming out of the speaker, or that it was working ten years ago, the old radio equivailent of "Running when parked".
I've gone to look at radios on craiglist that looked minty in pictures but when you look at them in person you find out someone rubbed them down with "Cowards", or some similar product. In one case they took selective shots in a flattering light, just conveniently leaving out the black stain on the top which managed to get at least $50 or so knocked of the price.
The most that I would consider paying for an early 30s console is maybe $125, if it's all complete, the cabinet is in nice shape without needing a refinish, electrically unrestored but either playing or trying to play. I don't know how badly you want this radio but I'm sure that you could find one requiring absolutely nothing for $200 or less, early 30s consoles are just not a high demand radio.
Regards
Arran

[jerryhawthorne]

Thanks Arran, I think I will ask for some additional pictures. Just 2 pictures of the front, doors open/doors closed and the chassis. Nothing of the sides/top or speaker. It's about a 600 mile round trip but have other things I could do while in the area. I felt the price was a on the steep side, just wanted to take a sanity check.

Jerry

[Arran]

I'm not knocking this particular set, the Philco 90 is a decent performer when working right, and apparently the highboy cabinet with doors is rarer then the lowboy cabinet, 20,890 verses 105,740, according to the gallery. This doesn't mean the highboy would be hard to find it just means that it is much less common. If the rest of the cabinet looks as nice as the handful of pictures you already have, and you can get the price down substantially to 1/2 or less then half of that $250 then I think it may be worth going for, although I would not make a 600 mile round trip for that alone.
Regards
Arran

[jerryhawthorne]

Well here is a link to the C/L offering. Doesn't look too bad but the pictures are not all and what I would like to see. Thoughts? Also appears to be a lot of variations of the "90". Single ended and double ended outputs. I really can't tell from the pictures of the chassis what it actually is. Can anyone tell?

Jerry

http://inlandempire.craigslist.org/atq/3057609627.html

[Arran]

I see that there are a lot of nice radios listed in this area, obviously not all are Philcos but many would be worth looking at if you happened to be in the area. With regards to that 90 highboy, it isn't as minty as it first appears, I see a significant amount of wear around the knobs and a few flakes or water spots out of the finish, it's hard to tell because the lighting is terrible. It isn't a bad radio but it's definately not worth $250 firm, judging by the quantity and quality of radios available in that area I think he will be sitting on it for a while if he doesn't come down in price.
Regards
Arran