Now, I know 7 inch magnifiers are not that common, but I never expected a plain little one like this to sell for $110.50!

http://www.ebay.com/itm/161185832736

Please educate me on why this one is so special with three bidders at or above $108.

I thought it would look good on one of my sevens, but not at that price.

Jas.

I'm not surprised. The market has been strong for magnifiers of any size the past few years. Also at 10 3/4" tall and 11" wide, I think that's for a 10" set when you factor in the mask.

You are right Bob. I am pretty sure that magnifier was for a 10" set. I guess if someone needed it to complete some rare 10" set it might be worth it, but not for any of the tv's I have. You can buy a whole TV for 110.50

Of course you can, but there are far more TVs out there than magnifiers. Plus people use these for other purposes than TV magnifiers.

As a TV collector for many years I must say that if you purchase one of these, you likely will end up keeping it stored away. I had many of them through the years when they were more plentiful, including the elusive 3" version for the Pilot. I would put them on the sets and then dislike how it looked. I ended-up eventually parting with them all.

You could have an Ant holocaust with that thing!

You could have an Ant holocaust with that thing!
Haha!:)

Now, I know 7 inch magnifiers are not that common, but I never expected a plain little one like this to sell for $110.50!
http://www.ebay.com/itm/161185832736
Please educate me on why this one is so special with three bidders at or above $108.
I thought it would look good on one of my sevens, but not at that price.
Jas.

Could be because it is a factory magnifier for a VT-71 Motorola set:
http://www.myvintagetv.com/posts/motmag.jpg

Only missing the brass straps

I agree with decojoe67, I have only one magnifier, not as elaborate as the one pictured, and I never liked the way it looked on the TV (7"), so it's been boxed for several years. In fact I'd forgotten about it, I should consider selling or trading it away, as I will not be using it anyway, and it would be a lot cheaper than the one listed above!

I agree that a magnifier is something you'll rarely use. My TV-37 happened to come with a magnifier with a homebrew stand. A magnifier restricts the viewing angle so that your face needs to be directly in front of the screen. It can also pick up a lot of glare unless the room is quite dark. In this photo the magnifier reflects a fisheye view of the messy shop where the photo was taken.

Phil Nelson
Phil's Old Radios
http://antiqueradio.org/index.html

http://antiqueradio.org/art/PilotMagnifierAnimation.gif

I have a lens made for the Pilot sets as well as one made for 10-inch sets that I got with my RCA 8TS30, and I agree that I am not likely to keep them sitting in front of the associated TV sets except for brief demonstrations.

Phil, I love how you made that alternating-view picture. It shows off the ability of the lens very well (which is not very much, relative to the size of the lens itself, is it?).