I don't know if it's on eBay anymore, but I found this picture of a Zenith crystal radio while browsing there the other day. I'm guessing this one is from the '40s-'50s, judging from the logotype on the cabinet.

I dunno Jeff. Wouldn't that be rather late in the game for a "cats whisker" radio? Either way, it looks cool.

I dunno Jeff. Wouldn't that be rather late in the game for a "cats whisker" radio? Either way, it looks cool.

I was just making a wild guess as to the vintage; that radio could very well have been from the '30s or even the '20s. Now that I think of it, the logotype style looks more like the one which was used by Zenith on its radios of the '30s (I see radios all the time on eBay with that logo on the tuning dials), so it would make sense that it would show up on a crystal set of that era.

I wonder how many of these catwhisker crystal sets Zenith sold, alongside their standard table models and consoles of the '30s. It wouldn't surprise me if most of those sets were sold to kids or teenagers with an interest in radio. Were these catwhisker sets any better or worse than other similar crystal sets of the same vintage? :scratch2: Being Zeniths, I'd think these sets would have had a performance edge over most other catwhisker sets in use at the time. The Bakelite knob just below the catwhisker detector wasn't used on other crystal sets, though I think it may have been a tuning control; can't imagine what other function it may have had.

Well, in the 20's and 30's there were still many rural areas without electricity, so a crystal radio would have certainly been the cat whisker's meow. Many battery radios were sold back then too. Used to see a lot of retired units when I was a kid. The knob on the Zenith was probably for tuning or peaking.

Hey thanks for that, I never knew Zenith made crystal radios and I had never seen one before. Ya learn something new every day! Cheers!

-james-

http://www.transistorradiodesign.com/index.htm

That is quite homebrew looking. The cabinet and connectors just do not look 20's. The crystal mount looks crooked. The Zenith tag looks borrowed from something else. And the cabinet color is years from the 20's walnut and mahogany.

Dave A

That is quite homebrew looking. The cabinet and connectors just do not look 20's. The crystal mount looks crooked. The Zenith tag looks borrowed from something else. And the cabinet color is years from the 20's walnut and mahogany.

Dave A

I'm not so sure. Not all products back then were fine hardwoods, and some commercial products from the 30s and 40s looked just like the one in that pic. I think it is very likely a commercial product. Most DIY things from back then would have looked more like soapboxes with stuff nailed on top (of course, some would have been much better, too).

That's a nice homebrew. The pin jacks and Zenith script are from very different time periods.