Estate Sale Finds In 2006!

[Chad Hauris]

I used to love to go to farm auctions back when I lived in Ohio, you could even bid half a dollar sometimes and get an old record player or TV. It was fun to listen to the auctioneer too...I think I first started going to auctions back when I was 14 or so.
Here in Texas it is usually fixed price estate sales but most of them are pretty reasonable. Last week an estate sale vendor gave us a Curtis Mathis CTC-17 like set. The one or two vendors that don't trade fair, I don't patronize.
It is almost always an antiques shop which specializes in estate services that conducts these sales here too. Usually any left over items will be donated to charitable thrift stores.

[drh4683]

Got the set going strong again. Its model SD2565, "The Quincy" according to the 1973 Zenith brochure. 25DC58(Z) horizontal solid state chassis. Once again, pre chromacolor II (1974). Retrace lines caused by improper adjustment of the G2 controls. they were cranked way up. Luckily, the CRT is excellent still considering how overdrivin it was. Some hack tech got his hands in this set. Looked like the chassis and TMA were pulled to go to the shop. I found screws laying inside the cabinet, improper screws holding the switch brackets, tuner mounting etc. I pulled the chassis to see what was done. The 24 volt regulator diode was replaced under the chassis, thats all I could find. The tech reinstalled the chassis using only 1 screw underneath. Wires were all over the place.
Had to relocated the screws to their original locations, properly dress the wires. Im a real purist when it comes to that kind of thing. Yoke was badly out of position.
remote control didnt work at all. Found a shorted 10uf 3v lytic on the common emitter circuit for the function relays. While I was at it, touched up the coils for each freq. You can tune this set from quite a distance now.
Since everything got pulled apart, I took some pics of the varactor tuner and chassis.
Its fixed up now and works like new. This set could be the candidate for the new daily watcher. Give my '69 zenith a break. its been going non stop for over 2 years now, working perfectly exept for a shorted out rectifier on the SC chassis last year. The set wouldnt turn on with the remote.

[bgadow]

Doug, keep it up and that museum is going to have the full Zenith model line!

As I've often mentioned, things are mostly done by auction around here. Many auctioneers & the paper is always full of sales. Hardly ever worth the effort on my part, though, as attending can be an all-day commitment. Some of the auction barns won't even take most TV sets any more because they don't sell. A few years ago I had never even seen a non-auction estate sale but they are starting to pop up. There is only one real company doing it that I can tell; I did leave my card with the owner, who said she usually just tosses older TV sets. The last 2 sales I attended were conducted by the family of the deceased. The first was fairly well run; nothing was marked but the prices were reasonable & negotiable and it worked-by afternoon most everything was gone. The second sale was a joke-2 sisters camped out for days in Dad's mobile home, trying to get top dollar for a small assortment of knick-knacks and rusty tools.

[Whirled One]

For the occasional occasion where you might need to move a heavy object yourself, I've discovered that those folding aluminum hand trucks with the swing-out wheels are really pretty handy. You can find similar ones at many home-improvement stores; here's a web-link to one I happened to find (using a quick Google) just as an illustration:
http://www.handtrucksrus.com/crashdetail.aspx?id=462

Again, you can find similar ones at lots of other stores; I got a hand truck of similar design at Harbor Freight last summer on sale for ~ $30. It's very light in weight, stronger than it looks, has nice large-diameter wheels and a big toeplate, and sets up and collapses *very* quickly and easily. ...And since the thing (*including* the wheels and toeplate) completely folds flat, it doesn't have to take up much room in your vehicle-- if you've got a station wagon, minivan or SUV -like vehicle, you can just leave it in the cargo area strapped to the back of the rear seat with a bungee cord until you need it.

[fujifrontier]

Originally Posted by Bobby Brady

That's a rather grim outlook.

its grim but its true. see my comment on jstouts on why.

and I agree with jstout about the estate companies not allowing family to attend. most of the people who attend estate sales where I live are ghetto and want nothing more than a trinket they think they can sell for $5000 on ePay. they root irreverantly through peoples things and scatter stuff everywhere throughout the house. It may sound weird but I like to go to these places, these places where in most instances people have spent 30-40 years, and reflect.... try and pick up some of the energy that rubbed off from them in the place they called home. I will walk through their rooms, rooms where they cried, rooms where they laughed, rooms where memories were made. I'll look at their pictures and the things they had, and try to imagine the people that lived there.

One estate sale I found a workroom with a bunch of disassembled ham radio chassis; in a box were a bunch of slide trays and pictures that were thrown and disorganised. It was an old couple's house, and there was a picture of the old lady at the barbecue, in the 60s. A kodachrome moment; she looked so happy, the sun was golden and everything looked right with the world. The stone barbecue was new, probably built by her husband. As I walked out of the garage I saw the barbecue, and it looked like i was standing in exactly the same place where her husband took the picture. The barbecue was crumbling and the grass was dying, but in my head I could reassemble every detail, and imagine the scene behind me, probably with family laughing and having a good time, with a portable 45 player scratching in the background.

What makes me sad is in a lot of these pictures you see pride; pride in home and posessions. These are people that took pictures with their new TV when it arrived, these are people that took pictures of the new Olds, and took two, "in case one doesn't come out." Never again will people like that grace our planet, never again will buying a car/house/TV be associated with such pride. So yes, I can understand why people at estate sales are bitches.

[drh4683]

This is it, the final TV find for 2006. It's a rare one, a 25" zenith chromacolor II table set in the steel cabinet. Picked it up today at 355 W. Harrison St. Lombard, IL for $10.00. The set was in the front room beneath a card table. Didn't see any kind of stand for it. It still works too with strong clear picture. Uses the 25FC45 chassis. Its a rather rare set, as it was part of Willowbrook high school. (AV department). The original owner worked at the high school as a janitor as I saw his "District 88" uniforms throughout the basement. I did find a zenith 3A3 hv rect. dated 1965 in the basement, so there must have been a zenith color set somewhere at one time but couldn't find it.

Problem with this set, broken off volume slider. Anyone have one they'd like to sell?

It was a successful year for vintage TV finds. Hopefully the trend continues for "Estate sale finds in 2007".

[3Guncolor]

Nice set.. Looks like it even has had the "four lead cap" changed.

[rcaman]

man i fixed a bunch of those sets. far cry from thr zeniths now pure junk. seems like you couldnt wear some of those zeniths out. i sold rca and those were great sets also but not anymore the only thing the rca,s have going for them they still have fine crt,s. chassis are pure crap. steve

[bgadow]

Doug, do you have a part number for that slider? There is a slight, slight chance at me having it but I would need the part number (from Sams or svc manual) to find out. I got rid of all my later paperwork.