Doing my part rescuing TV's

[julianburke]

Some years back when looking for "Estate Sales", they were somewhat few and far in between and television was still NTSC strong. Many TV's had not fully "matured" and not many people and collectors were paying much attention to the older middle aged sets. 20 years later estate sales are seemingly a daily affair with many running simultaneously because the older folks are closing up households for the usually obvious reasons, and the millennials don't care one iota for old stuff except to make a fish tank out of a fine old TV set.

I always had an affinity for the 1971 Zenith 21" hybrid table set with the black plastic cabinet because I liked selling them when I was working for a appliance store at Christmas. They produced beautiful color and were very easy to sell esp at Christmas 1971! I have found only 2 such Zeniths in the last 25 years. If anyone has noticed they are very hard to find today as are the original "real" RCA XL100 table sets. Albeit their scarcity, they still turn up if you do all the estate sales you can find.

Yesterday was no exception. I encountered one sale where both spouses had passed away where the husband was a Air Force WWII vet. It appeared that after the last burial, nothing was taken from the home and nothing was touched and was left intact. I found four good sets there, a very nice and almost mint 21" XL100 table model from 1975 (one of the last "true" XL100's), a 1985 Sony 13" set (very sharp and crisp picture) AND a 1966 RCA early American CTC25 sitting in the garage with no legs with some junk on top. Wondering if I would ever find the legs I accidently found them in a box in the upstairs bathroom. (go figure) The last one was a 12" RCA B&W click stop SS in its' original box.

Yes folks, many of these old sets still exist and you have to do these estate sales as they come up. It seems that in the wealthier neighborhoods, these nice old sets turn up occasionally. The sad part is that the estate people have to empty these homes and know nothing about TV's and when Monday comes, the grim recycle reaper cometh and I surmise that only about 10% of the existing sets ever get saved. It's like fishing, you can't get them all!

I'm doing my part and the good news is I have "rescued" about 35 sets this year and many were given to me for just taking them away with the rest being dirt cheap. It's hard for me to believe that these sets are 53, 44 and 34 years old and in the past I used to see hundreds of these sets coming in for service and pretty much all have disappeared since! How time flies so Happy Hunting Folks!!

I suppose that what I'm trying to say here is that what I have found in a 20 mile radius around Knoxville (lately) should be a drop in the bucket as compared to what there may exist in all other homes and estate sales in this great vast country and especially those in the wealthier cities. I really don't need any more TV's but I am a soft touch when it comes down to saving a nice 50 year old TV from the landfill that are mostly in very nice to mint condition that will be disposed of because they don't sell. Oh yeah BYW, nice (old) pianos and some grands are also in this same category--don't even get me started on this subject as there are many horror stories there!!

[Sandy G]

You a Good Man, Julian! Give yrself a Pat on the Back !

[KentTeffeteller]

Julian is awesome, a gentleman of the highest, a great friend like you, Sandy. And always enjoyed, if on the phone or in person. A fellow once I met, like you, I felt like I'd known for 30 years. And you need to do a visit with me on his turf, you'd be in awe like I was. Julian is one of us!!! He is a historian and preservationist.

[Sandy G]

Kent, Think we were BOTH at Terry's one day when I got to meet Julian. All I can say is I agree w/about everything you said, I kinda wish I knew HALF of what you & Julian have forgot about Things Electronic.... But I AIN'T a gentleman... I'm a 1st Class SOB..., A VERY Mouthy one at that...

[Electronic M]

I wish I could speculatively purchase every decent set I come across. Just owning almost everything I want is eating all my space...A few weeks back a rare Avanti variant (the one that is a mahogany case with front doors on the Avanti pedestal base) showed up and the I was having to consider loaning my other avanti (the standard version cabinet) to a friend to have a place to put the new one (someone else musta grabbed it while I was dragging my feet)...I gotta stop buying TVs for a couple years and get some new real estate...
I suspect loosing a real life TV Tetris game is a lot worse than loosing at the videogame...

[ESigma25]

I still haven't personally found anything older than my 1978 RCA ColorTrak but I'm sure there's older sets out there I just haven't found yet!

[joemama99]

Here in Florida,it is very uncommon to find anything old.People are mainly here from somewhere else and they threw out all their old stuff before moving.

[KentTeffeteller]

Originally Posted by Sandy G

Kent, Think we were BOTH at Terry's one day when I got to meet Julian. All I can say is I agree w/about everything you said, I kinda wish I knew HALF of what you & Julian have forgot about Things Electronic.... But I AIN'T a gentleman... I'm a 1st Class SOB..., A VERY Mouthy one at that...

Sandy, you're no SOB. You are a gentleman, and polite, but also willing to tell it like it is. And also too much like Julian and I are, we're practically family anyway. Any day we meet and hang out some, is a day I grin and have a blast. First day I met you, I felt like I'd known you 30 years already.

[kf4rca]

All the roadside stuff I find here is post 2000 foreign made color stuff. Goodwill is not a good place since they don't accept analog sets anymore. AND, small B/W sets are impossible to find. I was surprised that on Ebay they're going for about what they sold for brand new!

[AlanInSitges]

Originally Posted by kf4rca

All the roadside stuff I find here is post 2000 foreign made color stuff. Goodwill is not a good place since they don't accept analog sets anymore. AND, small B/W sets are impossible to find. I was surprised that on Ebay they're going for about what they sold for brand new!

Go to Goodwill and let them know you're looking for old sets. Give them a sheet with your phone and email and "OLD TV SETS" on it to tape up next to their counter. When people come in with old sets (that cost money to recycle) you'll get first dibs on every single one.

[kf4rca]

I spoke to one of the employees about that and he seemed totally dis-interested. I told him ANYTHING American made is totally collectible. Got no response from him.
And for roadside finds, some I can't get into the back of the truck. Attached is a Panasonic CRT style HDTV that must weigh 100 pounds. It uses a flat screen CRT which is very heavy by itself.
My limit is about 75 lbs.
The garbage man comes tomorrow. Yikes!

[Electronic M]

Yeah, Goodwill here won't collaborate in any official capacity with anyone (though small stuff they know you'll buy might be added to shelves while you're looking if they like ya or want ya to spend more).

If I was not already at capacity on the storage space of my current digs I'd probably put up a poster on one of the bulliten boards in the store and see where it would get me.

My Sony HD CRT set is supposed to weigh 208lbs. I can lift and walk with it, but it ain't fun. If you want to haul above your weight class you probably need a truck with a Tommy gate, or in my case since one of those wouldn't work with my Suburban I'm thinking about getting some boards to use as ramps.

[Sandy G]

Goodwill WON'T help because of the time-honored "No " -Liability concerns. Some idjit fuzzy-faced lawyer, 15 levels removed from ANY store situation, said "NO" one day on helping customers out on a few things, & that was that.