One of my mates has posted a couple of photos he's downloaded of a couple of huge round tube B&W TV sets from the early 1950s and out of nagging curiosity I have been trying to identify them but without success! The size of the tubes look to be around 30 inch or at least 24 inch, the only 30 incher I know of is the Dumont Sovereign but these are definitely not Dumont Sovereigns. Anyhow I was wondering if any of you know what brand/model/year these two sets are?

Those must be bigger than "24 surely. I would guess 30" is close.

I've never seen a round tube that big here in the States, must be of Australian manufacture.(?)

John

Those must be bigger than "24 surely. I would guess 30" is close.

I've never seen a round tube that big here in the States, must be of Australian manufacture.(?)

John

Definitely not Australia, those are American TVs and Dumont did make a 30" set called the Royal Sovereign https://www.earlytelevision.org/dumont_ra-119.html . The 2nd photo was taken in 1953 and Australia didn't even have television until 1956 and the biggest sets made were around 21 inch and that was late 1950s, don't think we even had round tube TVs.

Looks like a Muntz, but I’m not sure.

https://www.google.com/search?q=muntz+black+and+white+tv&prmd=isnv&sxsrf=ALeKk03S6jf1cpBmCdS1ZJAEIYJISKtcew:159326772 2834&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwiQ3JrlmKLqAhWKbs0KHXiKD9sQ_AUoAXoECBYQA Q&biw=375&bih=553#imgrc=3ozLFu4gKvPQSM

http://antiquetvguy.com/WebPages/TheRestorations/1957Muntz24/Images/1957Muntz24PhotoPages/Muntz24SizeComparePhotoPage.html

Definitely a 1953 24" Muntz.

http://antiquetvguy.com/WebPages/TheRestorations/1957Muntz24/1957-Muntz-24.html

Definitely a 1953 24" Muntz.

http://antiquetvguy.com/WebPages/TheRestorations/1957Muntz24/1957-Muntz-24.html


Wow, I was way off on this - maybe the relatively large tube in a vintage cabinet threw me off, but I would have bet that was a 30" tube!!

John

Crosley made a version of the royal sovereign that had the same 30" CRT.

Earlier Crosleys were rebadged Dumonts but I don't know if they still were when they sold their 30" set.

Never saw any round CRT B&W sets in Aus. The first sets we had were in 1956 and initially were 4:3 17inch shortly followed by 21inch sets.

Definitely a 1953 24" Muntz.

http://antiquetvguy.com/WebPages/TheRestorations/1957Muntz24/1957-Muntz-24.html

Thanks for that. Yep those photos match that Muntz set perfectly! Thought round tube B&W TVs went out of production in 1952 after the Dumont Royal Sovereign.