This used to be a TV. My dad got it after the electronics had already been gutted and turned it into a record/stereo cabinet. It's been in that configuration for 35 years or so. I'm curious as to what it was originally - the cabinetry is very well-built and attractive.

That's a DuMont.

Probably RA-103.

LJB

Too bad it was gutted, but great it was saved! Dumont did build very nice cabinets. That, IMHO, is a keeper.
Kevin

Yep, a Dumont, found an ad for it:

http://cgi.ebay.com/DUMONT-B-W-TV-RADIO-19-INCH-HANOVER-1950-AD_W0QQitemZ320339730075QQcmdZViewItemQQptZLH_Defa ultDomain_0?hash=item320339730075&_trksid=p3286.c0.m14&_trkparms=72%3A1205|66%3A2|65%3A12|39%3A1|240%3A13 18|301%3A1|293%3A1|294%3A50


It was a 19" set.

To make it fit where they needed it to go, a bit was cut off of the back and new rear legs were installed. Most people would never notice unless it was pointed out. The gutting occurred sometime before 1972, so it wasn't a recent molestation. Back then it was just a dead TV with a good, heavy cabinet.

Thanks for the ID. It's not going anywhere, and even if my dad wanted to get rid of it, I would grab it.

That's really nice! Glad you're keeping it. Dumont is the second manufacturer that I know about that has used the Hepplewhite style. I wonder how many lay claim to that?

John

Anyone have a picture of one of these TVs intact?

There's a Dumont TV ad posted on the Prelinger Archives, the quality is pretty crappy but you can just make out that the first set shown in this model!
Can't see the insides though because the actor is standing in front of it. :no:

http://www.archive.org/details/AnotherDumontTelevisionSetCommercial

Definitely keep it.

Back in the mid '70s someone gave me a Philco TRF radio chassis. Then I found a speaker to fit it, and got the thing playing nicely. The cabinet to the thing had rotted to pieces, according to the young lady that gave me the chassis. It was in her grandparents' barn. I shelved the radio and speaker set, hoping some day to find the right cabinet for it....

Fast forward to a year or so ago. I was in downtown Pittsfield, MA on a Sunday morning after having just done a concert piano tuning at a performance hall there. I was window shopping, waiting for the hardware store to open, and noticed a gutted floor-model radio case being used as a window display prop. Very pretty. I stared at it for a long time, noticing the knob hole configuration, and recognizing that it might fit the old Philco. I could not see around the back of the cabinet for a brand sticker, nor could I get close enough to the escutcheon around the dial hole to read it.

But on a following weekday I went into that store and conducted business. The cabinet bore the Philco name! I paid cash and took the cabinet home, resolved to make it work with that chassis. It took some time to find the chassis, as I hadn't laid hands on it in well over 20 years. I finally found it and (drum roll, please) the chassis fit in perfectly! :banana:

Maybe somewhere out there is a Dumont with a rotten cabinet to make a fine guts donor for that beautiful cabinet shown. :thmbsp:

The cabinet is a bit shallow now to re-install a TV, and I rather like it the way it is. I've always been curious about the source, though.