Early Color Optimism

[Sandy G]

I remember reading somewhere that color was really considered a big bust in the late '50s-early '60s, because all the industry big shots had pumped each other up on How Big It was Gonna Be..Even Sarnoff was kinda worried -RCA's bankers were starting to grumble pretty loudly about all the money they'd dumped into color, & how meager the returns had been. The local affiliates didn't want to invest in color systems if there were no viewers to watch them, & the public didn't want to invest in an expensive, unreliable toy if there was nothing to watch on it...And, remember, back then there was little, if any "cable"-all TV was pretty much over-the-air signals, & color suffered at any distance from the transmitter. Plus, TVs didn't have much of the color & picture correcting circuitry we take for granted now. I also can't remember seeing a roundie back in the day that was "set up" like we do now-almost invariably they'd have convergence, focus, or some other issues. B&W programs ended up being sort of a purpledy-green. Looking back, its almost amazing color TV development went as well as it did...

[hposter]

...Does any one know what the 1946 CBS/ GE mock up sold for when it went over seas? Ed...


Hey Ed,

The TV was NOT a mock-up, it was an actual, working prototype. It was complete with chassis, scanning disc, mirror and screen. It included a manual and blueprints (I guess, in case you wanted to build another).

At that point, maybe 12 years ago, Danny Gustafson was the only real buyer of pricey TVs, and although it was offered in the USA, for around $10K, no one thought it was worth that. Unfortunately, I need to turn merch over, just to pay my mortgage. An overseas Museum buyer thought it was a deal. (It has since been restored, and flipped for many times that price!)

I had it packed and shipped. So, it ended up out of the USA, but only after being offered on 'the circuit' for a couple of months. Back then, $10K was a lot for a vintage television. I had sold the Triniscope for about the same price, and my Sparton pre-war Mirror-in-the-lid for half that! Most of my TRK-12's were listed in the ARC, and sold for around $5K each. Now, with ebay, Steve, and the over-all USA and International TV interest, any of those sets would sell for double, triple.....today.

If I can find them, I'll post some scans of the photos I took at the time. There are lots of buried treasures out there, you just have to be lucky.

Harry

[roundscreen]

Originally Posted by hposter

...Does any one know what the 1946 CBS/ GE mock up sold for when it went over seas? Ed...


Hey Ed,

The TV was NOT a mock-up, it was an actual, working prototype. It was complete with chassis, scanning disc, mirror and screen. It included a manual and blueprints (I guess, in case you wanted to build another).

At that point, maybe 12 years ago, Danny Gustafson was the only real buyer of pricey TVs, and although it was offered in the USA, for around $10K, no one thought it was worth that. Unfortunately, I need to turn merch over, just to pay my mortgage. An overseas Museum buyer thought it was a deal. (It has since been restored, and flipped for many times that price!)

I had it packed and shipped. So, it ended up out of the USA, but only after being offered on 'the circuit' for a couple of months. Back then, $10K was a lot for a vintage television. I had sold the Triniscope for about the same price, and my Sparton pre-war Mirror-in-the-lid for half that! Most of my TRK-12's were listed in the ARC, and sold for around $5K each. Now, with ebay, Steve, and the over-all USA and International TV interest, any of those sets would sell for double, triple.....today.

If I can find them, I'll post some scans of the photos I took at the time. There are lots of buried treasures out there, you just have to be lucky.

Harry

Hi Harry.
You do find some awesome tvs and 10 k sounds fair for a one of a kind set.
We all have to make a living and you are doing something that helps save the rare ones. I may not agree with the color conversion of a vintage tv but still you keep the chassis and tube so who am I to judge.
Do you have a collection at home? Do you restore the the tube type chassis in them? If you do, I bet they are really cool.
Thanks
Ed

[bgadow]

There are only 2 or 3 areas of the country where I would expect to see many really rare sets: New York, and then maybe LA & Chicago, but mostly just the NY area. While there are numerous members here in the other cities there are not that many collectors on these forums from what should be the center of the hobby. Harry is in the perfect location for these great experimental sets. It would be highly unlikely for one to show up where I live-if so it would have meant some engineer moved to the waterfront here to retire and thought so much of the old equipment to bring it with him. I can always hold out hope! (Likewise I recall the newsclip from a local paper in 1954 reporting that a local merchant had sold a color TV!)

[Steve McVoy]

Bryan, that is generally true, but there are exceptions. Geoff Bourne's prewar iconoscope camera was found in West Virginia, a RCA Model 5 prototype color set that was recently auctioned was found in Kentucky, and the Gray Research color monitor we have in our collection came from Georgia.

Immediate postwar set can be found just about anywhere, since people often moved with them.

[old_tv_nut]

A few more scans from Technician 1954, related to the CBS Colortron color CRT.