Why Aren't 12" B&W Sets Collectible?

[jerryjg]

Start buying up all those zillions of cheap 12" black and whites and store em away-in 20 years people will be wanting them, likely as not!

[Jeffhs]

Originally Posted by tv beta guy

I dunno... for me, those 12" B&Ws don't particularly interest me. Depends on what is special about it. If it has tubes in it, I'll definately take it.
I have 3 12"s right now. One is a late 60s Panasonic Speed-o-Vision. One is a late 70's JCPenny (RCA), but I kept that one as I like the woodgrain finish with the big dials, has a removable screen shield, headphone jack, and AC/DC power. The latest one I own is a 1982 Zenith 12", but it is the one with the digital tuner.
I have one of those mid 70s 9" Zeniths you always see on Ebay as well. It seems rather well built.

I bought a Zenith 12" solid-state B&W TV in 1978 that lasted 22 years, and was still going strong when I threw it out in 2000. (By contrast, I bought a 12" tube-powered portable TV marketed by the former discount chain Kennedy & Cohen in 1975 that lasted only three years before it burned up.) The only problem I ever had with it was the UHF channel selector detent mechanism, which broke and froze the UHF tuner on one channel (as bad luck would have it, a blank station in my area). TV itself was working incredibly well--excellent picture, sound and everything else on its monopole antenna, and I lived in a semi-fringe area at the time. I had even recovered the ebony cabinet with woodgrain contact paper. The last five years or so I had it I was using it as a monitor for a Commodore 64 computer. The only reasons I pitched the set when I moved in 1999 were, one, I moved into a very small apartment and found I had no room for three TVs (I brought my Zenith Sentry 2 19" with me and bought a new RCA shortly before moving into the new place), and two, the Zenith had awful reception on its monopole antenna with no provisions for cable (the TV reception here is terrible, which is why almost everyone in this town has either cable or satellite). However, I wish now I had held on to that Zenith b&w portable, as it was one in a million as portable TVs go. I paid only about $60 for it at a discount store near my former home, but never had five minutes worth of trouble with it, the fact that it had a circuit board notwithstanding (in fact, the entire set, IIRC, was on one huge PCB--including the flyback). This was one of the best little TVs I've ever had. I don't know if either of my color sets will even come close to lasting 22 years , though my Sentry 2 Zenith was made almost 11 years ago and is still going great, good picture on cable and all. It's in line to replace the RCA when the latter eventually goes belly up. Who knows, the Zenith just might make it. Hmmm. I'll just have to wait and see.

[Adam]

I just got a 12" Zenith b&w at an estate sale today, it looks early 80's, manual tuning, all soild state, it works great. The antenna on top was mostly broken off, and with it only extended about a foot, it pulled in a clear ch56.

[compucat]

I just finished servicing a 1978 Quasar 12" B&W set for which I paid $5.00 at a thrift store. I passed on it twice before because the white cabinet was all brown splotches as though something had been spilled onto and into it. When I got it home, I found that the brown stuff was all ove the inside as well. I can only presume it was nicotine. The picture and sound were totally unstable as all the controls were severely dirty. The set was complete so I decided to restore it.

I dissassembled the entire set, washed the cabinet inside and out, cleaned every surface of the pc board and tuner assembly and used Deoxit on all the controls. The only thing I had to replace was the power cord. Now the set looks and works like new. There were very few scratches on the cabinet and the Novus plastic polish really makes it shine. For a little bit of effort, this set that sat unwanted for months in the thrift store now is in like new condition. I know these sets have little collector value now and certainly no monetary value but I can't help but like them, especially the ones from the Seventies.

[Charlie]

Originally Posted by compucat

They don't take up much room and they are easy to obtain and repair. I would think they would have occupied a collector niche by now. Any thoughts?

It's kinda like a '78 Plymouth Volare... slant six and four doors... not exactly a collector's dream these days. But, if it's slant six is still cruising by 2020 (and it probably will be), people would probably fight over that same Volare. Scary isn't it?!

[compucat]

Originally Posted by Charlie

It's kinda like a '78 Plymouth Volare... slant six and four doors... not exactly a collector's dream these days. But, if it's slant six is still cruising by 2020 (and it probably will be), people would probably fight over that same Volare. Scary isn't it?!

It is just too bad that so many otherwise good examples get thrown away before somebody wakes up and decides they're collectible. It astonishes me that people throw away good working tv sets simply because they no longer want them. When I decide to part with a working tv set I sell it or give it away. The disposable consumer mentality has caused poeple to no longer appreciate what they have.

[Chad Hauris]

I think there are really 4 categories of products out there

1. Contemporary item...currently available, no special collector value.

2. An item about 30-35 years old that people think is outmoded or old fashioned and thus really doesn't have collector value (Lawrence Welk and Herb Alpert records, late 70's Plymouth or Mercury, 12" black and white TV)

3. An item from the past which was "cool" and reminds middle aged people of childhood fun (Mid 60's Ford Mustang, other "muscle cars", etc.

4. An item which is so old that most people alive have never used it when it was new and thus is now only really collected by specialists and doesn't have as much "collector" value as it once did (T Model Ford, Victrola, old tractors)

I think items can pass through this cycle as they age and thus have times when they may be collectibles and other times not.

Chad, I totally agree with you on that point. I collect a lot of old stuff, small appliances, whatever and occasionally put stuff on ebay. Interestingly, the harder to find stuff from the 30-40's doesn't sell near as good or at all as compared to stuff from the 60's and 70's which can bring in some good coin. I put it down to aging boomers (myself included) trying to recapture some of their youth no matter what.

[bgadow]

Once, the only collectable radios were from the twenties and then, later, the early 30s. Now the market for those is going soft. And yes, it's the same with cars. My Dad often talks about how much a model T was worth back in the seventies but now most of the folks who knew drove them when they were new are deceased.

12" bw sets, along with other seventies/eighties stuff, will become valuable when us Gen X'ers are in our fifties and have cash to spend. Yeah, I can imagine, 20 years from now, being 54 and wanting to relive my youth by finding the first tv set I ever bought new. (a mid-80s Midland 12" bw from Western Auto) (Come to think of it, that set remains the ONLY television I've ever bought new!)

[compucat]

12" bw sets, along with other seventies/eighties stuff, will become valuable when us Gen X'ers are in our fifties and have cash to spend. Yeah, I can imagine, 20 years from now, being 54 and wanting to relive my youth by finding the first tv set I ever bought new. (a mid-80s Midland 12" bw from Western Auto) (Come to think of it, that set remains the ONLY television I've ever bought new!)[/QUOTE]

I can relate to that. My first set was a mid 60s Zenith just like the one in my avatar. It was given to me by one of my Dad's coworkers when I was 15 as a last resort before going to the trash. It was missing a couple of knobs and had some weak tubes but I treasured that set. After six months, the flyback went out and as a kid had no money to get it fixed. Twenty years later I find one just like it in a thrift store complete and restorable with a good crt. I don't plan to let this one get away.

[Charlie]

Funny to think... Go to WalMart, buy a new TV (just buy a standard NTSC CRT set since they're so cheap) and put it away somewhere without opening the box. Wait 40 years, get it out and hook it up (would need a converter for the HD signal), and see if it turns heads when guest come over and see it operating!

Then list it on ebay...

2006 RCA 25" CRT color TV with original box, remote, and paperwork. Was in storage for past 40 years... never turned on till last week! No, this is not HD, but will work with converters found on ebay.

No, this set DOES NOT have voice command... hadn't been invented yet. You actually have to push buttons to operate this set! Imagine that! This set DOES NOT have 4-D, holo-view, or virtual-vision. Those hadn't been invented yet, either.

This set operates on 120 volts and consumes a whopping 110 watts of power! WOW! 110 watts!!! What were they thinking in those days???

Great conversation piece in original black plastic cabinet. No scratches! Like new!

Of course, today, this sounds silly. But, in 2045, this could be a big deal! It would be like when Doug found the late 60's 25" NOS Truetone that was never sold.

[Chad Hauris]

Charlie I think you are on to something. These sets seem to have zero sentimental value to people as they don't have nice furniture cabinets so they just get tossed. There probably will be more of a chance to find tube type sets 40 years from now than the sets of today.

[superdeez]

Has anyone ever seen some of the last Zenith(?) B&W sets? I remember seeing once a Zenith(?) 12" B&W still working atop someone's fridge in their kitchen (this was in about 94), and what I found really strange about the set was that while it had the typical rheostat bright/volume controls, it had a digital tuner with one of those random-access keypads on the front of the set! Idk if there had ever been a remote.

I can remember seeing one of the cheap made-in-china B&W sets in the corner of one of those "wall of TVs" displays in a Circut City in about 95 or 96. It still had knobs, where as every other set was colour and digital tune. It looked SO out-of-place. I think the price was like $40 where the 13" colour next to it was $50.

[superdeez]

Originally Posted by Charlie

It's kinda like a '78 Plymouth Volare... slant six and four doors... not exactly a collector's dream these days. But, if it's slant six is still cruising by 2020 (and it probably will be), people would probably fight over that same Volare. Scary isn't it?!

I love Chrysler F-bodies! Although a 318 would be much better.

[JCFitz]

Originally Posted by bgadow

Once, the only collectable radios were from the twenties and then, later, the early 30s. Now the market for those is going soft. And yes, it's the same with cars. My Dad often talks about how much a model T was worth back in the seventies but now most of the folks who knew drove them when they were new are deceased.

12" bw sets, along with other seventies/eighties stuff, will become valuable when us Gen X'ers are in our fifties and have cash to spend. Yeah, I can imagine, 20 years from now, being 54 and wanting to relive my youth by finding the first tv set I ever bought new. (a mid-80s Midland 12" bw from Western Auto) (Come to think of it, that set remains the ONLY television I've ever bought new!)

I've only ever bought one tv new as well(1986 Sharp 19" color 19LP16 from the long gone Nichols in Salisbury with my graduation money,my first color tv of my own,turn knob though,not remote) though I'm not the tv collector you are.I miss the tv I had after that more(1967 Zenith 20Y1C38 console color tv I got for free)Sold the Sharp for $150 when I got the Zenith,the Zenith for $100 when I got a mid 1980s Panasonic 19" remote control set for free only needing a flyback.Used the rest of the Zenith money to get a used vcr from a local tv shop.I though it was great having both a tv with remote and vcr with remote in my room while my grandmother was still using a turn knob tv in the living room.She hated it when I did get her a remote tv,couldn't run it.The vcr was my source of movies with no cable available and satellite tv still out of reach without a lot of money to buy equipment(pre Directv and Dish Network) but the Zenith and many other Zeniths I fixed and sold were better built sets just not remote.