A friend, who works out of town, just called to say that he was in a flea market and he saw two things that might be of interest to me. The first thing was a wooden Stewart-Warner radio for $25; which, I told him to get.

The second thing, from what he described, was one of those 12" RCA B&W TV's that looks like a mini console that was made in the early '70's. He said she had $75 on it; which, is way too much. He asked what I'd give and I told him to offer not more than $15. He made the offer and I could hear the lady going on in the background about how it was one of the first TV's ever made and $45, possibly $40, would be as low as the owner would go. He told her that I knew what I was talking about when it came to old TV's and her price was way too high. So, did I do the right thing by telling him to leave it there? I don't think those sets are that rare or valuable and they certainly are not the first TV that was ever made.

Not long ago, a similar 9" set sold on the 'bay (much higher than I would pay, BTW):

http://www.ebay.com/itm/VINTAGE-RETRO-60S-RCA-MINIATURE-9-CONSOLE-TV-MOVIE-PROP-SALESMAN-SAMPLE-/390370764393?pt=Vintage_Electronics_R2&hash=item5ae3e92669

Update: Another 9" one:

http://www.ebay.com/itm/VINTAGE-RCA-MINATURE-TELEVISION-MOVIE-PROP-RARE-AM101S-/170733186304?pt=Vintage_Electronics_R2&hash=item27c07dad00

not affiliated,
jr

My friend called back and asked if I'd go $30. He says it's in nice shape and I told him to go ahead and get it.

Just checked out the one jr posted from eBay... probably a relatively rare tv. I think you did good for 30$ if it's clean.

I don't really think they are all that rare, one seems to pop up on eBay every month or so.

I doubt it's a Salesman's sample either, probably just another set in the RCA lineup, I have the Plastic cased version of it.

Finding one in really good condition might be pretty hard, being small and made of wood they probably got banged around a lot.

I believe they are a 9" Tube not 12"

I have always wondered about them being a salesman's sample. It just doesn't quite jive. I agree that it was probably in the RCA product line. I like wood cabinet TVs. I am tempted to try and take a standard 12" B&W set and make a wooden tabletop cabinet for it.

Anyone got pics of the insides of one? I've often wondered if these were Tubes or solid-state.

In about the same time frame, RCA also built this sorta similar looking wooden AM/FM table radio:

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Vintage-Radio-RCA-Victor-Solid-State-AM-FM-AFC-Pecan-Wood-Case-Table-Radio-/250911083055?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item3a6b774a2f

Actually it was a decent performer for its time.

not affiliated,
jr

A long time ago, I had some RCA product line books from the early '70's and I believe the "mini console" B&W was in one of them. I think they are an all tube set; but, I really don't remember. I guess I'll find out Saturday when my friend brings the set by. He said that it looks nice and that the owner said it works perfectly. Of course, I know to take that with a grain of salt.

That is a tube set. It uses compactrons. The chassis consists mostly of a pc board. I have the radio mentioned above. The sound quality is good but you can tell that build quality was starting to go down for table radios by then, cheap plastic front panel with glued-on grille cloth.

I remember those. I came really close to buying one back when they were new.

A long time ago, I had some RCA product line books from the early '70's and I believe the "mini console" B&W was in one of them. I think they are an all tube set; but, I really don't remember. I guess I'll find out Saturday when my friend brings the set by. He said that it looks nice and that the owner said it works perfectly. Of course, I know to take that with a grain of salt.

RCA made the early American and a Mediterranean styled mini console. For some reason that year I got the tv brochure from the dealer.

I wonder where the seller ever got the idea this TV is from the 1950s. :scratch2: Looks to me like it's no older than the 1970s or thereabouts. I don't think Compactrons were even around 50+ years ago. These unusual tubes were used primarily in GE televisions; to the best of my knowledge and belief, they were not used in RCA sets to any great extent. I'll take another look at the photo of the RCA mini-console on eBay; if it shows the block "RCA" logo on the set's front panel, the set was made post-1968.

Another thing that screams 1970s about this little TV are the design and layout of the front control panel; I don't think RCA sets used this type of control panel in the 1950s. Last but certainly not least, the idea of a "mini-console" wood TV that could sit on a table seems to me to be out of place for the 1950s, as most console TVs of that era were huge, heavy monsters requiring at least two very strong people to move them. Even portables of that era were almost always large and heavy, as some of them, like RCA Victor's 17-inch portable from the latter part of the decade, like the one in VK member Adam's avatar, in a metal cabinet with a power transformer and a 5U4 rectifier tube, weighed 50 pounds if they weighed an ounce. I read somewhere just recently where someone seemed to think these TVs were more accurately referred to as "luggables" rather than portables; given their weight, I would and do agree.

Even the 8 inch RCA portable from the late Fifties weighs 22 pounds. It also has a metal cabinet, chassis and a power transformer.

Compactrons were also used in Zenith sets of the Sixties and Seventies.

And of course, General Electric(GE) was the king of compactrons. My SE and SF chassis black and white sets (1970s) use these tubes. Some have uses in audio due to the fact they can act as a driver stage and pentode output in one envelope.

I think the oldest set I've owned that used compactrons was a circa '61 GE B&W console. It was one of their nicer models with a power transformer.

Audiotronics used a 6T9 compactron as the driver and output tube in some of their record players and radios that were marketed towards schools.

Common but interesting, and it's real wood. I've had a few of them.

Charles

I don't know why sellers always think it is a salesman sample. I remember
seeing them on the store shelves arournd 1970 or 71, they were a few dollars
more than the other 12" tvs.

I had the 9" model, it needed a little help, I took it to Terry's, & he & his wife made such a fuss over it. I just up 'n' GAVE it to them.

It's now in my hands. It's a 4-tube 9" set with late '69 date codes on the tubes; so, it's probably a 1970 model. The four tubes consist of a video output tube, vertical osc.output tube, horizontal osc tube, and the horizontal output/damper tube. The set is fairly clean and looks to be a low hours set. The only real problem is the rod antenna is broken and will need to be replaced.

http://i538.photobucket.com/albums/ff341/radiotvnut/2006_0202rca0001.jpg

http://i538.photobucket.com/albums/ff341/radiotvnut/2006_0202rca0002.jpg

http://i538.photobucket.com/albums/ff341/radiotvnut/2006_0202rca0003.jpg

It's now in my hands. It's a 4-tube 9" set with late '69 date codes on the tubes; so, it's probably a 1970 model. The four tubes consist of a video output tube, vertical osc.output tube, horizontal osc tube, and the horizontal output/damper tube. The set is fairly clean and looks to be a low hours set. The only real problem is the rod antenna is broken and will need to be replaced.

Unless there are still VHF translators or LPTV stations in your area, you probably don't need that monopole antenna anyway (unless you want to replace it simply for the sake of the looks of the set) since all full-power TV stations are digital. The set should work on cable or with a converter box, the former at least until analog cable is done away with -- whenever that may be.

BTW, I looked at the picture of your RCA 9" TV and saw that it does, in fact, have the block RCA logo at the far left-hand end of the trim strip above the CRT, so yes, your set was almost certainly made after 1968, the year in which RCA switched from its decades-old round "RCA" logo to the block one that even Thomson (or whomever makes the guts of RCA-branded flat-screen televisions these days) uses on its sets today.