It's Raining TV's!
 

My friend Danny found this for me yesterday at an estate sale for $20. They wanted $150 for it but he talked some reason into the people. It's an early production CTC-25 model GH-704. Somebody either bleached or painted the cabinet, so I'll have to fix that.

If it is a factory blond by some chance then I'd keep it that way.

RCA only made this cabinet in Autumn Mahogany and Natural Walnut.

Were those equipped with an early tension band CRT? A quick Google search didn't turn up any CTC-25 sets with a cataract.

It looks blonde to me and hope it is and not painted. Cool looking style no matter the color.

Maker/advertisement/service literature is not the bible...It is often wrong, incomplete or a different revision than what is in front of you. The workmanship will tell you if it is factory.

This information is just how I heard it from Danny, and he knows his RCA's.

There's such a thing as a special order. If you want to spend the money, you can order it in pink with purple polka dots.
Some people had so much money, they didn't care how they spent it.
Maybe it could be ordered with an unfinished cabinet and the dealer sent it out to get it professionally finished.
Look at some of the movie stars and sports figures and how they furnish their homes. :sigh:

I know a guy that has a Hammond organ that was bought unfinished, and finished perfectly in a specific finish color. It was bought by the guy's (IIRC) Grandparents. They special ordered it unfinished because it HAD to match their furnishings, and Hammond refused to finish it the color they wanted....There are many Hammond collectors that tell him what he KNOWS is real and has the family history and lit to back up has to be a fake...

Good Score! I had (many years ago, when I was about 14 years old:) the "Dumas" French Provincial Model GH-724, that's pictured in the RCA Brochure you posted above! It was a good set, belonged to my best friend's Grandmother, I got it when she moved, and bought another set, because the original CRT was shot on her set, and a brightener had been installed. I used it about a year, until you could no longer see the screen! Kind'a hard to tell if yours was special ordered in that finish, but I don't think so, based on the scratches, it looks like they "painted-over" the original finish, to me anyway. Nice all day for $20.00, though!

Then there's the story that comedian Jack Benny ordered an RCA CT-100 w/a blonde finish cabinet to match his other furniture. The CT-100 was only available in Mahogany finish. Could never verify this story.

-Steve D.

My '55-'56 Hoffman Colorcaster has a pecan finish. The tiny bit of advertising literature for the set I've found shows only a Mahogany console and table model as being available.
You can't rely on advertising literature for much of anything....

I've noticed similar things for many brands. The advertising and sales brochures would often only have a mahogany finish listed, but the factory service literature and the Sams Photofact would list parts numbers for both dark brown and tan knobs, indicating the sets were available in more than one color. I wonder if it's because the early brochures are printed before the sets even hit the production line and many changes have been made throughout the sales year.

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I was reading through an old thread the other day and someone said they have seen a blonde CT-100, so they do exist. I think they were special order only and had a slightly different model number. Now to dig up that old thread again...

It wouldn't surprise me if a blonde CT-100 is out there; I've moved a CT-100 with a 25 Hz power transformer and my back is still paying dearly for it... If RCA would pop a 25 Hz transformer in a CT-100 on custom order, I don't see why they wouldn't have finished one in blonde if you asked nicely... and paid handsomely.