Estate Sale Finds In 2011!

[drh4683]

Thats a great haul Nick! What year was the poster of the zenith sets from? Did you find out if he was a TV repair tech or did he work for Zenith? Lots of times those guys were engineers for Zenith who have a ton of Zenith stuff all over their house like that. Considering he lived in Norridge, he's was only about 10 minutes away from the plant so its quite possible. Was there any other zenith litterature?

[maxm]

The owner appears to have worked Loge Robertson for some time, it appears they made large format process / stat cameras. I found a lens there from such a camera. Later it appears he worked for the Public Library in the area, there were recent boxes addressed to him at the library and I bought a Western Electric 1A2 key phone that had been installed at the library.
The concentration of Zenith items makes one imagine he was connected to them somehow. He must have been collecting until recently because there were some boxes from ebay there addressed to him and some recent looking notes about TVs for sale.

[drh4683]

Did you guys see any 60's zenith or motorola rectangular color sets of any kind?

[Electronic M]

I will be visiting this sale today.

[miniman82]

Originally Posted by drh4683

Did you guys see any 60's zenith or motorola rectangular color sets of any kind?

There's no less than 3 Zenith tubed square sets there: one is in the garage next to the mint Cadillac, another upstairs, and a third in the basement. Go for them, Doug!

[maxm]

There is a late 60s looking rectangular console in the garage that I only saw briefly when they had the garage open to show somebody the cars, I didn't see if it was color or not.

I didn't see any Motorola stuff, almost everything was Zenith. The woman running the sale told me her father used to work for Motorola and she had some old electronics from him.

I found this mug there showing the history of Zenith's TVs which is pretty nice.

[Jeffhs]

Originally Posted by drh4683

Went to a few sales today, picked up a couple color sets. First sale was in La Grange at 633 S. Waiola. Found a 1963 Admiral roundie combo in the basement. Fortunately a dry clean basement so the TV is still in nice shape. The TV doesn't work, won't even power up but the stereo works perfectly. It was half price day, so I got it for $35.00. I had my appliance dolly with me, so I was able to move it by myself as it was basically impossible to get anyone at the sale to help me even if you offer them a few dollars to help. You are better off doing things yourself anyway. I dropped the Admiral off at home before I went to any more sales.
The next sale was in Forest Park at 836 Thomas Ave. I went to check out a Motorola stereo that I saw in the sale preview photos. They wanted $295 for it! I said forget that, but on the otherside of the living room was an unexpected 1969 Zenith color set! Not too often do I find full to the floor consoles. They took nice care of this one. It's a Zenith so you know what that means... works just fine... Looks like nobody ever serviced it either, no evidence of wear around the twist tabs on back. Its a 16Z7C50 chassis. Another one of those strange situations I run into wondering how a TV lasts that many years in the living room of a small home and go untouched.

Doug, it never ceases to amaze me how you can find room for all the TVs you find at estate sales. Your house must be huge; that or else you have a separate storage area just for vintage electronics.

[drh4683]

Jeff, there is always room for more and adjustments are always made while still maintaining a comfortable lifestyle by not having them all in my way.

Nick, was the rectangular set upstairs that 19" chromacolor II? I was just over there. The lady said no TV's were in the garage and it was locked up so I didn't bother asking to go look. I only picked up the one in the basement, it's a '68 b/w metal cabinet 23" hospital set as it has the three pronged grounded cord. Also came with the owners manual which was unusual. Looks like it had very light use, he had a blanket covering it which helped save it from that miserable moldy basement...

[Adam]

A 60 Chevy!
Did anybody get that 19" b/w steel cabinet Zenith with the auto-shutoff I mentioned in the other thread? The picture is in post#74 here in this thread.

[WISCOJIM]

Originally Posted by maxm

The owner appears to have worked Loge Robertson for some time, it appears they made large format process / stat cameras. I found a lens there from such a camera. Later it appears he worked for the Public Library in the area, there were recent boxes addressed to him at the library and I bought a Western Electric 1A2 key phone that had been installed at the library.
The concentration of Zenith items makes one imagine he was connected to them somehow. He must have been collecting until recently because there were some boxes from ebay there addressed to him and some recent looking notes about TVs for sale.

You may have purchased this from the son's estate, also named Wallace.

http://www.legacy.com/obituaries/chi...8129&fhid=2180

WALLY STACHOWICZ |

Wally Stachowicz, 49; beloved fiance of Molly; beloved son of Stephanie Niedbala and the late Wallace Stachowicz and step-son of the late Ray Niedbala; dear brother of Pat (Roger) Postek; fond uncle of Steve (Lynn) Postek and Laurie (Dave) Bukovinsky and great-uncle of Connor, Audrey, and Megan; dear master of Lucky. Funeral Services will begin Tuesday, 9:30 a.m. at Cumberland Chapels, 8300 W. Lawrence Ave., Norridge and proceed to Divine Savior Church for Mass at 10:30 a.m. Interment St. Adalbert Cemetery. Donations to the American Cancer Society would be appreciated. Visitation Monday from 3 to 9 p.m. Info 708-456-8300 or www.cumberlandchapels.com. Published in Chicago Tribune on April 17, 2011


.

[Electronic M]

I got the two metal cabbinet table Zeniths, allong with other goodies and one set I purchased by mistake. I will post pics tomorrow. There is a Zenith 23" monochrome console in the garage it has electronic tuning, but no space command chassis that I could see (is this something Zenith did). I wanted to buy this and a early 60's GE portable radio phono stereo console(a very desireable model), but I coulden't afford them along with what I got. So they remain there in the garage. There are two inline Zenith table tops that remain in the basement along with a battery ultra-sonic remote that I assume goes to one. Also still there in the basement are the two zenith mono consoles and the mono motorola portable tube set (I moved this into my wanted pile, but had to leave it which I regret). Many tube radios remain along with other goodies that I'd like to snag.
I'm totally broke now, and can NOT return so someone please save what remains in my stead.
Tom C.

[dieseljeep]

The poor kid died of Cancer. A nasty way to go! At least he collected a lot of goodies. His legescy will live on.

[radiotvnut]

That hospital set is a cool find! Old hospital TV's almost never turn up.

[dieseljeep]

Originally Posted by radiotvnut

That hospital set is a cool find! Old hospital TV's almost never turn up.

I saw a few of them in my travels. At one time you had to pay a daily fee for a TV in the room. They had a key switch on the side. This set was a '58 RCA. This was one of those 17" set with a rounded cabinet. It was probably a transformer powered chassis. P.S. The Koss family, The head phone firm, was one of the first companies to rent TV's in hospitals in the Milwaukee area.

[Electronic M]

The top set I bought by mistake because I mistook it's inline gun CRT for a Delta gun CRT. The bottom set I'm contemplating stealing the CRT from to use in the console that is missing it's CRT in the second photo, though I could be persuaided not to.



I believe that the cart and the set match. I bought this set because I bought a similar model last summer (third photo down) that has made me a fan of that line of sets.




I also bought this jigsaw puzzle that has a spare tuner, but is missing the built in antenna, two knobs, and a bunch of screws. I did find three wrong color knobs in the parts box so I'm good for now.






I also got a pair of NIB Quadrophonic headphones.



And I was extatic to find the original accessory timer for my first generation Zenith top loading Betamax deck!




Tom C.