The story behind all the rare sets

[Dave A]

I've had three different Philco TV-123 1955 color sets pass through the collection and a spare chassis. I found the first two around Philadelphia from retired Philco engineers. The last one from an AK'er remains. Needs HV donuts.

My 21CT55 came from a local wandering through Rochester about 10 years ago. $300. Temperamental right now.

My second CT100 came from a local RCA dealer about 15 years ago. It was his floor model he never sold. The shop was by a creek and it had flooded and damaged the feet. I fixed that but the set was not working. Right now it is awaiting a focus control repair and soon to be back to see how my 15GP22 is holding up.

The Sightmaster "Americana" came from Brooklyn via early ebay. Capped and working but a bad design that is HV underpowered for the 15" tube. It appears to have been badged as a high-end name from Transvision. Same address.

My TRK-120 came from a collector on LI. The cabinet had a hole sawed in front of the CRT support plate to mount a Pilot FM tuner attached to the phono input. All restored and working but the CRT is slipping away.

And three British pre-wars. A Baird TV-5 from 1936 or early 1937, but not a dual-standard set. Only 6 knobs, missing the 7th standard-change knob. There was a later 5-knob version as shown on ETF. A Baird TV-23 from 1938 (mine is shown on ETF) and a HMV 900 from 1937. I had the Bairds shipped in from England and the HMV came from an AK'er. It was re-capped and re-tuned for NTSC and did work when last powered but very dim. The Bairds are for show only.

Does my Indextron count?