This guy used to outbid me on tv's almost every time on ebay back around 4 years ago. It didn't matter the age or model, Whenever I tried to get one he would jump in and snatch it.
Now I know what he was doing with them....
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&category=3638&item=2392921442&rd=1

What a waste of a nice TV

Besides the fact that 18 gallons is very small for a marine tank.
Of course you could sit in front of it and pretend you are watching Jaques Coustaue (sp.) :rolleyes:

Yeah, It pissed me off too!
I remember two different Setchell Carlson sets that I had bids on that were mint and complete and of course he grabbed them up for his "conversions"
Now I know why he bid me up to over 100 bucks on each set, He is asking much more than that now after hacking them up.
Before I knew what he was doing with them I thought oh well, At least it went to a collector that will at least preserve it and maybe even restore it to working condition.
He ranks right up there with our nutty friend that had the G-2000 and threatened to "throw it away" If no one bid!

...

I'm surprised he left the speakers in the cabinet. Maybe he hooks up a radio to it so the fish can have tunes. :dunno:

Do we know that he actually sells any at this price?

When I was in Louisville last month I turned a corner at an antique mall and saw 3 tv's staring at me. Sadly, 2 of them (a Motorola console, looked bigger than 21", a 10" table model, Stromberg Carlson I think) were now aquariums. Priced way high, several hundred IIRC. The third was a portable Motorola electrostatic set that was only around $50 but I have been trying to watch my budget so I passed.

Oh, and that "52 model" looks suspicously like the 54 model I own.

I was at a garage sale recently and saw a Zenith porthole cabinet with a fish tank in it, My first thought was here we go again!
The owner wanted 350.00 for it and it didn't look like there were any takers.
When I asked him about the set he said he bought it that way from someone on ebay, He also said they were local so that rules out our friend from the Carolinas.
It really is a shame that this is happening to the harder to find sets.

Yes it is a shame to see these nice sets with fish tanks or modern color sets in them.I just wish I had more room to put more consoles in my house.

I guess I need to step up my development of those replica sets and possibly jump on the "outsourcing" bandwagon to get the cabinets made for less than the quotes I've gotten so far. I guess outsourcing to Korea for the cabinetmaking wouldn't be such a bad thing if it put some guys out of the business of hacking up authentic antiques.

Not that I know anything about cabinet making, but perhaps you should also check into the Phillapines.....they have some really neat woods coming from there and probably have a large industry of cabinet makers too. Am sure the price would be around the same as Korea.

Anthony

We bought an expensive bedroom suite last year, solid wood, mahaghony, from a fine furniture store. Set was from an old southern company. Only when we were setting it up in the house did I see the markings indicating it was made in Indonesia. They did do a good job. Have also seen lots of Chinese made furniture that looked pretty decent.

I have to say its a beautiful TV. But I like the fishtank idea.