By Paul Chenard (Copyright 2008)

A member of The Collectors Weekly Hall of Fame, Paul Chenard shows off his impressive collection of race car toys and automobilia on his personal site, focusing mostly on European racing history.

I’ve been collecting vintage toys since 1982. I started slowly and methodically, partly for lack of information, mostly for lack of finances. I used to collect any metal transportation toy that I found interesting, anything that caught my eye (and that I could afford). In the late 80s, a Canadian-made Chime tin wind-up racecar toy from about 1935 came into my collection and suddenly, I had to find more racecar toys. I slowly traded away my other toys to acquire more metal (tin and diecast) racecars.

There has been an amazing diversity of new and old toys cars available. I’ve learned that in vintage toys, the German, French and British toys are the most coveted (diecast and wind-up tin). Japanese tin toys (tin, battery operated and wind-up) from the 50s, 60s and 70s are extremely collectible, with the battery-operated 50’s Atom Jet Racer selling for more than $3500 US. A note of caution: tin Chinese reproductions of the Japanese toys are colourful but have not much value to collectors.

The French firm CIJ created a large stunning toy model of the famous late 1920’s Alfa Romeo P2 racer at approximately 1/10 scale. It comes in red, blue, white, green, yellow, and possibly even more colours. It copies the proportions and detail of the original perfectly, and even has functional steering. One of these in good condition can sell for easily $4000 to $5000 today; you can add $2000 to that if the box is included.

If purchasing brand new toys for your collection, it’s good not to confuse toys with limited-edition collectibles. Toys are sold to be played with, while limited-edition collectibles are sold to be displayed. I have five-year-old Hot Wheels cars that have increased their value 20-fold; I don’t know of any collectibles that have that kind of return on their original purchase price. Always keep the packaging of your new toy; it can add up to 50 per cent to the value of the toy in the future.

When you start collecting, take your time and learn as much as you can. Going to antique stores is a great way to start. You hold and inspect an antique toy without having to purchase it. Speaking to the more specialized dealers of antique toys may also get you some valuable information, and help them track down what you are looking for.

The web, books, magazines and catalogues (new and used) are great sources of information, some general and others very specific in their focus. Some magazines publish an annual price guide, which is important when determining the value of your finds. I have learned of the different toy cars produced by certain makers, and I have sought out their products. That is how I discovered the beautiful line of Mercury, Italy Grand Prix race cars and focused on acquiring some for as little as $50.

Yard sales and flea markets can be good places to pick up something interesting. A mint and boxed Technofix tin wind-up Rallye 66 racetrack (now worth $300-$400) was originally purchased at a local flea market for $10.00.

At auctions, there could be some toys in lots, but inspect them, make sure they’re in good condition and decide at the beginning how much you are willing to pay out. There are more and more Internet auction sites available; if you have studied the subject you are collecting well, and you are willing to wait for a reasonably priced collectible to come up, you can do really well in these auctions. I know I have.

There are basic rules of toy car collecting. Here are some of most important ones:

• If you can, pick a theme for your collection. It helps focus your research and your toy hunting.

• Use common sense.

• Learn as much as you can before making your purchases.

• Never pay more than you feel comfortable in paying out for an item.

• Never acquire a broken toy, unless it’s free.

• Have fun!

The images in this article appear in the following order:

1. Chime Land Speed Racer, circa 1935, tin wind-up (Canada)
2. Mercury #56 Mercedes Formula 1, circa 1956, die cast (Italy)
3. Technofix Rallye 66, circa 1966, tin wind-up (Germany)

Do you have an article you’d like us to publish as a guest column in The Collectors Weekly? Let us know.

In an example of how certain categories of antiques and collectibles can rise and fall quickly, the market for gold coins is undergoing gyrations because of volatility in global commodity prices for the precious metal, according to a recent Wall Street Journal article.

Because of the runup in the price of gold over the past year, many speculators have jumped into the gold coin market, hoping to use these coins as a bet on the price of gold, or a hedge against inflation. But when the price of gold dipped in the past month, the values of many gold coins sank quickly. And many older collectible coins, according to the article, are trading at only slightly above thir “melt value,” or the value of their gold content if melted down.

This despite the fact that experts say older, rarer coins tend to hold their value better when the price of gold falls (because they still have collectible value). But that didn’t happen this time.

The recent ups and downs in world gold prices have created a couple of other phenomenon: the rise of fraudulent schemes where companies advertise and sell “layered” gold coins with little actual gold content at high prices; and the softening of the market for traditional collector coins such as the $20 Double Eagle (shown here) as investor attention focuses on the new U.S. Bald Eagle commemorative coins and similar issues from other countries.

Moral #1 of the story: antiques and collectibles values can rise and fall, often for reasons you can’t predict in advance. Moral #2: be sure to be clear on why you’re collecting. For the fun of it or as an investment? Ideally it would be both, but recall that over time many categories of antiques and collectibles have lagged the overall market, while others have done quite well. And in either case, there can be long periods when values can be either very up, or very down.

The Collectors Weekly doesn’t yet have a coin section, but if you’re into coins you may also want to take a look at our currency and stock certificates pages.

By Kimberly Wulfert (Copyright 2008)

Kimberly Wulfert is a quilt historian and collector whose website, www.antiquequiltdating.com, is a member of our Hall of Fame.

Many antique quilt collectors think of themselves as caretakers of historical documents, made at the hands of the needlework sisterhood before them. Their quilts speak to them and tell their story through clues in the style, fabric, pattern, quilt stitches and sometimes stitched or inked words, names, cities or dates.

The first time I went to an all antique quilt auction was in Southern California. One of those large Mid-western quilt dealer auction houses was holding an auction at a nearby hotel and I was very excited to go. I got there early and looked through their quilts as one is supposed to do, but I was rather new to quilt dating. It was crowded with people and I wasn’t able to get though very many stacks before the auction began.

With paddle in hand, I was ready. I believed every word the auctioneer said, big mistake. When they described a small sized log cabin quilt as a child’s or doll quilt I knew they were rare, so I bid and I bid till I won. It was the most I had ever paid for something so small. Excitedly I bid on another, a large early 20th century quilt (so they said), that from a distance was visually dynamic, colorful and in great shape. I bid on some others, and thankfully lost. I say thankfully because when I took my finds to my quilt study group, they told me what I had actually bought.

The early log cabin was a cut down large log-cabin. They told me that the blocks are large, too large for a child’s version, and the binding was another clue. The early 20th century quilt was actually 1940s, That’s mid in my book. It showed wear on many of the tiny pieces in the postage stamp variation. It still is a beauty from a distance, but I would not have paid as much as I did for a 1940s worn quilt. I left deflated and determined I wouldn’t get taken again. Buyer beware was clearly the truth.

It All Starts with the Style

Dating quilts with accuracy includes examination of many parts of the quilts, but the process starts with one aspect and goes from there. For me, the style is usually the first place I start.

The style of a quilt and its pattern are not the same thing. A quilt’s style is a broader classification, i.e. a whole- cloth quilt, charm quilt, utility quilt, signature quilt, medallion quilt, redwork quilt, crazy quilt, appliqué small block quilt, applique 4-block, strippey(photo to the right), Colonial Revival style and so on.

Patterns describe an individual block in a quilt, like Sunbonnet Sue, fan, log cabin, Rose of Sharon, 9-patch, Whig’s Defeat, Pot and Flowers, hole in the barn door, bowtie, and so on. As always, there are some exceptions to this; when the block pattern name is also the name of the style.

For example, the Star of Bethlehem, an early 19th century quilt pattern is also called Lone Star, a term which came later in the century and is believed to have started in Texas, the Lone Star state. The name difference is regional, but both depict the same pattern and style and the names are used interchangeably today. There is no other quilt style exactly like it. The way it is made changes, but the finished look of one large star made from rows of diamond shaped pieces covering the quilt top is the same through time. It is the manner of style in which the border and the corners are treated, and the fabrics being prints or solid colors that help determine if it’s age is early or later, regardless of what they call it.

Getting a Deeper Understanding

The style of a quilt is the first thing I see when I view a quilt, whether online, in an antique shop or booth, on exhibit or in an auction. A quilt’s fabric is hard to date from a distance, but the style jumps right out and gets the dating process under way quickly. My training to become a psychologist taught me the value of deductive reasoning using the decision (diagnostic) tree. As I go through the various aspects of the quilt, I weigh each characteristic against the era the style suggests from the start and in this way quickly determine the most likely circa date in which the quilt was made.

I do this on the spot during a quilt lecture using the audience’s quilts which I don’t see fully open until they are opened on stage. On the internet, I refer to scans of full shots of the front and back and close-ups of the binding, fabrics, and quilting. Of course there is always a disclaimer with any antique viewed on-line, but things can be overlooked in an antique shop as well. Good questions are asked of the owner to possibly help settle questions the quilt’s clues ask. This is especially important when evaluating a quilt’s age since they are almost never signed or dated. And even when dates are on it, a quilt’s age and value is determined by its newest feature, not its oldest.

This means that a quilt with signatures and dates in the blocks, may actually have been joined together and quilted a generation later. It is easy to assume otherwise, but take care not to jump to conclusions. About the only instance where the date can be taken as the latest feature and credible source of the quilt’s age is when the date is quilted in the quilt stitching itself on the front, as part of the overall quilt stitched pattern. Provenance is not always reliable, even when given in good faith, or when written on an old scrap of paper attached to the quilt with a pin.

In the 20th century, it was more common to name a quilt’s style using its pattern’s name. For example, four of the most common quilt styles made between 1900 and 1950 were Sunbonnet Sue, Grandmother’s Flower Garden, Dresden Plate and Double Wedding Ring. Grandmother’s Flower Garden is made with the same pattern as the late 1700s and early 1800s quilt style called Mosaic or Honeycomb. A similar style is referred to as a One-Patch Hexagon and if each fabric piece is made from a different fabric, it would be a Charm Quilt.

So names can change for a given style. Grandmother’s Flower Garden is the 20th century name; hexagons are arranged with certain colors forming particular designs, and for the 18 & 19th century mosaic style, the colors and designs the hexagons form are usually different, more varied, but not always! With this in mind, when you see or read about a hexagon quilt, if it is described as a Grandmother’s Flower Garden or as a mosaic or honeycomb, you will know what era the quilt is from. This helps when viewing an auction description, a dealer’s sales tag, or reading quilt history!

Desirability and Values

A quilt’s desirability, and therefore availability and value, fluctuates with time, decorating trends, political or historical events and discoveries, regional location, the economy and fads or colors of interest at a particular time.

Collectors tend to focus on a particular characteristic of whatever they collect, but talk to any quilt collector and they will tell you that if a quilt catches their eye and grabs their heart they will probably adopt it too.

I’ve developed a quick guide for dating antique quilts on the run while you are shopping or viewing an exhibit, at auctions, or at home with your own collection. These fold-out condensed charts will quickly point you to a good estimate of the era in which your quilt was made and describe the style so you can find it on the chart. Then you have a name for it and an era! This helps you to tell others about it and look it up in books. You can see more quilts by style here www.antiquequiltdatingguides.com and examples of my Antique Quilt Dating Guides…by Style, 1775-1900 and 1900-1950.

Kimberley Wulfert can be reached at: quiltdating@jetlink.net

This article contains images (courtesy Kimberly Wulfert), in the following order:

1. 1940s variation on the Postage Stamp-Style quilt
2. Rare Civil War commemorative fabric, with and canons. Strippey Style c. 1870, Massachusettes
3. Bethlehem top c. 1840
4. Elongated 9-patch blocks c. 1840, later set with 1880 - 1920s pink fabric sashing.
5. Ever popular indigo and white quilt, two-color style c. 1850, New York

Do you have an article you’d like us to publish as a guest column in The Collectors Weekly? Let us know.

By Michael Jack (Copyright 2008)

Michael Jack, whose personal Flickr website is a member of our Hall of Fame, is a collector of vintage transistor radios.

Perhaps you recently saw a picture of a cool looking pocket radio from the early 1960’s and were reminded of your carefree, youthful days? Maybe it was the pastel colors or atomic aged designs that caught your eye? Or the chrome highlights that attracted your attention? Nonetheless, you find yourself actively seeking them out at the local flea market or surfing eBay for a good deal.

Well, be warned! If you buy one transistor radio it will most likely grow to two, then three. By your fourth radio you will be considered a “collector” and will be hooked! There will be no turning back from the appeal of these mid-century, technical and artistic marvels.

Before spending too much money I recommend you take some time, do your homework and educate yourself. Then have fun and collect what you like. Although the main focus of this article is to broaden your knowledge base, make sure you don’t just collect for investment or get caught up in only possessing what are considered “must haves”. Sure, you’ll want some key radios but make sure you collect what you like. Have fun and buy radios that appeal to your personal tastes.

I suggest spending some time on the internet or scanning the pages of the few transistor radio price guides to research makes and models. Most of the price guides on the market were released well over ten years ago during the first “wave” of transistor radio collecting. They predate eBay and the quoted prices are often higher than present day values. What we’ve realized over the years is that these radios are not as rare or scarce as once thought. There are a few exceptions which I will talk about shortly.

1950s Transistor Radios: The Early Years

Generally, the most collectable and historic transistor radios are those made in Japan from 1956 to 1963 and America from 1955-60. One easy way to date a transistor radio to this period is to look for small triangles or circles between the 6 & 7 and the 12 & 16 on the dial. These are CD marks, which appeared on all radios manufactured or sold in the U.S. from 1953 to 1963. CD stood for Civil Defense and was taken very seriously in the 50’s and 60’s due to the communist “red scare.”

To counteract the potential for a Russian air attack on North America the US Government enacted the CONELRAD program, which stood for CONtrol of ELectromagnetic RADiation. CONELRAD established two civil defense frequencies, 640 and 1240 kilohertz. During times of emergencies, all stations except the CONELRAD stations at 640 and 1240 AM would cease operations (note that some Japanese radios made by Sharp and Hitachi during the late 50’s left out the CD marks).

American companies were the first out of the solid-state-radio gate with the release of the Regency TR-1 on Oct 18, 1954 (it sold well into 1955 and 1956 as the re-designed TR-1G and TR-4). As a transistor radio collector I think it’s important to have one example of this historic radio in your collection. They can be found on Ebay ranging in price from $300 to $1000 depending on color. The more basic ivory and grey cabinets will fetch less money than the “mandarin” red and black.

For a brief period TR-1s were released in very attractive pearlescent pink and light blue colors as well as swirled, jade green and mahogany. These later examples command top dollar on Ebay. If you really want to find a great deal on a Regency TR-1 I suggest frequenting your local flea markets, garage sales and antique markets. It may be a few years until you find one but think of the fun you’ll have searching and the money you’ll save. I found a red TR-1 at a flea market two years ago and only paid $100.
The TR-1 and TR-1G used an odd 22.5 volt battery which can be found in limited quantities today but are pricey.

Early Zenith radios like the Royal 500 series are also worthy of having in a collection. The first Royal 500 was hand wired and had a metal chassis! The fifth generation Zenith 500 was the 500H. It has a large oval speaker and is considered to be the best sounding/performing portable transistor radio ever. If you’re into high performance you may want to consider this one. An early handwired 500 will fetch more money than the later versions.

Other collectible American-made radios are from; RCA, G.E., Admiral, Motorola, Magnavox, Philco, Raytheon, Arvin, Sylvania and Emerson etc. American made radios tend to be slightly larger than their Japanese counterparts. Most U.S. radios would be considered “coatpocket” sized - too big for your shirtpocket but too small to be classified as a portable. Many were also larger, leather-clad portable sets like the Zenith Royal 750 and Raytheon 8TP-1.

One of the most popular and attractive coat pocket radios were/are the Emerson’s 888 series. Emerson released several models in this series from 1958 to 1960 such as the Vanguard, Pioneer, Explorer, Satellite, and Atlas - all named after various U.S. space programs. These radios can be found in great numbers today, and are terrific looking and often reasonably priced (typically from $20 to $100 depending on condition).

The Japanese Radios: Full Miniaturization

Although Japanese manufacturers were a bit behind the American companies in producing transistor radios they quickly caught up and exceeded expectations. The first Japanese transistor ever released was Sony’s TR-55. At the time Sony was a brand name, the company itself was called Tokyo Tsushin Kogyo. The TR-55 is incredibly rare today. It was only sold domestically in Japan while 50 units were imported in Canada by General Distributors (GENDIS). You may never encounter one of these in all your years of collecting.

The Sony radio that seemed to change the entire electronics world forever was the TR-63. Released in 1957, it was considered the world’s first, truly pocket-sized radio and was the first to utilize all miniature components. It was also the first Japanese radio to be imported into the U.S. (several other early Sony radios were sold in Canada in 1956). Several TR-63s appear each year on eBay but expect to pay top dollar for one. Even examples with cracks or chips can fetch $400. Those in mint condition will realize higher amounts.

Once Sony opened the U.S. market, other names like Toshiba, Hitachi, Sharp, Standard, Sanyo, Matsushita (Panasonic), Mitsubishi, Aiwa, Realtone, Global, and Zephyr arrived on North American shores and attracted the youth market with their smaller, more affordable and more colorful pocket radios. The simultaneous arrival of imported pocket radio and rock n’ roll conspired to change the electronics industry forever!

By the late 50’s and early 60’s many American companies opted to have their radios made in Japan, but retained their American brand names such as: Trancel, Penny’s, Channel Master and Bulova, Even giants like Zenith, RCA, Motorola, Philco and G.E. had their radios made in Japan. They could no longer compete with the lower prices and more attractive designs coming from Asia.

Classic Design Features

One of the classic features of Japanese radios was reverse painted plastic. Reverse (back) painting was a very popular method of ornamenting transistor radios between 1958 and 1962. By painting all artwork on the inside of the clear plastic dial cover, there would be no wear or damage to the most attractive features of the radio. A smooth protective surface remained on the outer dial.

This process also gave the radio a three dimensional appearance. The depth and palette of colors were quite breathtaking. Gold on white, black accents, bright red and powder blue along with geometric shapes like starbursts, chevrons, jet wings, diamonds and parallel lines make reverse painted radios visually stunning and highly sought after by collectors. Makers like Toshiba and Crown were exceptional with their creative use of reverse painting.

Even Japanese radios without reverse painting are highly collectible. The Sony
TR-610 (which sold almost 500,000 units worldwide), with it’s sleek cabinet and round speaker grill, spawned a host of imitators like the Realtone TR-1088 “Comet”. These radios can be found in abundance today and range in price from $50 to $150 depending on condition and color.

In your travels you may even encounter pocket radios called “Boy’s Radios”. Japanese firms were hit with both a domestic export tax and a North American import tax on any AM radio having three or more transistors. This would have put a dent in Japanese radio sales - forcing retail prices to climb. Solution? In the early 60’s Japanese manufacturers developed AM radios which could operate on only two transistors. They were marketed as “toys” rather than electronic devices thus stepping around the taxes!

These radios would either have Boy’s Radio or Two Transistors prominently and proudly displayed on the cabinet. In many cases, the cabinets were identical to “real” radios with 6 transistors. Performance was less than stellar but these radios could still pick up local stations. Teenagers were swayed by price and appearance anyways, and performance was low on their list. Boy’s Radios show up often on eBay and range in value from $25 to $70.

With any transistor radio from the 1950’s or early 60’s it seems that the brighter the color the higher the price. Cool 50’s shades like robin’s egg/powder blue, seafoam green and bright red or yellow command higher prices. Black and ivory cabinets are considered less attractive by some and may reduce a radio’s value on the collector’s market.

Other Tips For Collecting Transistor Radios

Of course condition is key in valuing a radio as well. Finding a radio with its original box, leather case, earphones, owner’s manual and warranty card/sales slip will inflate it’s worth. You may have to dish out twice or three times a radio’s book or eBay value with all those extras.

Be sure to examine the cabinet closely when making a purchase. Small hairline cracks or chips are often found in the corners. These pocket radios experienced very active lives during the 1950’s and 60’s. Many were taken to picnics, ballgames, schools and other social outings. They might have been dropped, left in the sun, damaged while trying to replace the batteries or just plain neglected by their owners.

Some collectors refuse to buy damaged radios. Others, like myself, are not troubled by buying less than perfect examples. The time spent restoring and repairing is very rewarding and it’s much easier on the pocket book! (A damaged radio will most often realize half of its book or auction value) There are several products on the market like plastic repair kits, polishes, cleaners and electronic replacements to bring a radio back to life if you so desire. If you want to keep a radio historically accurate, I recommend not changing its electronic components….the choice is yours.

Radios made in Hong Kong during the mid to late 60’s are not highly desirable. Gone were the fancy colors, atomic age designs, chrome and reverse painted dials. In my travels I’d say that over half of all the radios I encounter were made in Hong Kong. Most often I pass them up unless the price tag is $5 to $10. Perhaps in another ten years these radios will become “collectible.” However, if you see one and you like it….buy it and enjoy it!

During the 1970’s, radio design experienced a renaissance. Bright colors and cool shapes made a comeback (perhaps inspired by disco, mood rings and the excesses of the decade). Panasonic released several radios that are highly collectable today such as the Panapet and Toot-A-Loop. They can be found at flea markets or online auctions ranging in price from $10 to $50. Be prepared to spend more if you find one in it’s original box.

If you care to research this fascinating hobby further there are many great resources on the internet. Here also are some books that may be of help:

• Transistor Radios: 1954-1968 (Schiffer Book for Collectors) by Norman Smith
• Zenith Transistor Radios: Evolution of a Classic by Norman R. Smith
• Transistor Radios: A Collector’s Encyclopedia and Price Guide by D. R. Lane and Robert A. Lane
• Collector’s Guide to Transistor Radios: Identification and Values
  by Marty Bunis
• Made in Japan by Erbe, et al. Handy
• and a wonderful series of smaller booklets by Eric Wrobbel found at http://www.ericwrobbel.com/

Do you have an article you’d like us to publish as a guest column in The Collectors Weekly? Let us know.

Here’s a rundown of the top 20 sites from our Hall of Fame last month (those that got the most views on The Collectors Weekly in March):

The Early Office Museum showcases pre-1920 office antiques, including paperweights, writing ink, paper fasteners, seal pressers, tabulating and copying machines, pencil sharpeners and much more. Great historical descriptions, timelines, ephemera scans and photos. Don’t miss the early office interior photos pages.

There’s a ton of information in the Antique Bottle Collectors Haven, but as with bottles, you have to dig to find the best stuff. Start with the famous bottles page, with its photo galleries of rare and unusual bottles. Then read up on tops, bases, classification, digging, dating and cleaning. Now you’re ready to go to a bottle show.

Check out Old Spice Collectibles and lather up with Creighton Fricek’s complete chronology of collectible Old Spice shaving products. Start with the bottle index for a list of traditional, talcum, travel, and novelty bottles distributed between the 1930s and 1990s. Check out the history page, the vintage magazine ads, and the Old Spice mugs. And don’t miss the other products page, showcasing other vintage items carrying the Old Spice logo.

The Silver Marks Encyclopedia is an extensive reference guide to silver marks, hallmarks, trademarks and maker’s marks found on antique and vintage silver, especially sterling and coin silver, and silverplate. Sections for American, British and World marks, plus many useful reference articles for silver collectors. What’s New: The site has added a new section on American Modernist jewelers and silversmiths.

Carnival-glass.net is an extensive reference on ‘carnival glass,’ which became popular in the early 1900s, is divided into three sections, all illustrated with beautiful, close-up photos. Offers articles on carnival glass history, production and varieties, plus information on classic U.S., European and Australian pieces. What’s New: The site has a featured article on a rare Brockwitz Flying Squirrel bowl.

Radiomuseum.org is a vast archive and community of radio collectors features over 120,000 radio model listings and 350,000 photos and schematics. Collectors can post their own models and add content to existing listings. Browse by collector or by manufacturer, or use the search on the home page to find exactly what you’re looking for (you don’t have to be a member to see most of the content). Whats New: Stay up to date on all the recently uploaded antique radio photographs from members’ personal collections.

If you’re into old phones, check out The Telephone Archive, a 600-page repository of images and historical information. Includes an extensive collection of telephone number cards (e.g. Pennsylvania 6-5000), porcelain telephone signs, telephone manufacturer catalogs, and of course, telephones themselves.

In addition to a detailed timeline and history of the Ansonia Clock Company, the Antique Ansonia Clocks site boasts a database of photos and descriptions of over 1,000 antique Ansonia clocks, with model names like Crown, Dorval, Jumper, and Novelty. Also check out the very nifty 1905 Ansonia Crystal Regulators catalog. What’s New: Recently added on the homepage, the Ansonia Crystal Regulators 1905 Catalog.

The On-Line Skateboard Museum showcases an excellent gallery of vintage skateboards, with pictures and historical descriptions, showcases 80 years of collectible skateboards 1920-2000. From the 20’s three-wheeler to 40’s Skeeter to 60’s Roller Derby and Zipees to 70’s Duraflex and 90’s Chili Peppers Octopus, it’s all here.

AntiqueRadios.com is Alan Voorhees’ reference resource for vintage radio collectors including a photo gallery, article library, PDF archive, active discussion forums, and even a value guide listing valuation ranges for 2700 different models. Also includes links to sites offering free recordings from the golden age of radio.

Put on your go-go boots and check out this wavy, groovy tribute to 1960s fashion and textiles, courtesy of the Victoria and Albert Museum. Key sections include history, dresses, textiles and fashion in 1960s London. Also has interviews with influential characters from the 1960s fashion world.

Ericofon.com is Richard Rose’s tribute to the Ericofon, a colorful, stylish concept phone introduced in Europe in the 1950’s and then exported to the U.S. The site goes into great detail on the history, wiring and troubleshooting, colors and styles. Great shots of his own collection including a rainbow of colors.

AntiqueTractors.com is a great reference and community forum on antique tractors. Start with the 39-page master photo list, showing thousands of pre-1970 tractors. Includes makes like Deere, Ford, Chalmers, Farmall, Massey, and many more. Also browse the collector-submitted photos page, the tractor advertising archive, and a great set of tractor reference articles. What’s New: The site has recently added a section for vintage ads.

Historic Glass Bottle Identification is Bill Lindsey’s fantastic bottle identification and information site. Loaded with detailed descriptions and diagrams, and luscious high res photos, this is a superlative one-stop educational resource and vicarious digger experience. Key sections include dating, typing/typology, glassmaking, colors, finishes, bodies and seams, bases, fragment identification and a glossary.

Antique and 19th Century Cameras is Rob Niederman’s homage to (and collection of) late 19th century wood cameras. This site contains extensive galleries with detailed information on the early wood, brass, and leather view cameras, multi-lens cameras, and self-casing field cameras that gave photography its start. And the photos, as one would hope, are stunning. Also, don’t miss the nice reference section with scans of period catalogs and advertising.

Falvo Collectables Gallery is Ralph and Carol Falvo’s excellent collection of automobiles, petroliana, jukeboxes, soda, and general store items. The beauty of this site is in the quality of the displays, in addition to the actual items. Almost like going on an in-person tour led by Ralph and Carol themselves.

The Classic Typewriter Page is Richard Polt’s celebration of the typewriter. Clean as a white sheet of bond paper, with stunning images, the site offers ‘Typewriter Facts,’ ‘Typewriter Collecting and Care’ and ‘Typewriter Fun.’ Scroll through typewriter history and model information, plus Polt’s own personal collection. What’s New: Polt has added new models to his personal collection.

Advertising Antiques is a classy looking British site featuring hundreds of high resolution photos of antique porcelain pre-war (enamel) signs and other old advertising items, including tins, bottles, boxes, and advertising displays. The signs are organized by subject categories, the largest of which are drinks and beverages, food, household and home related, and garden and farm equipment. Advertising and sign collectors should not miss this site!

1001 Ink Bottles has lots of great photos and descriptions of rare vintage ink bottles. In particular, check out the Waterman, Parker, and Onoto collections, this incredible collection of almost 1200 labelled bottles, and this related ephemera collection.

Marilyn Monroe Collection is an extensive tribute to Marilyn Monroe containing photos and descriptions of numerous personal items she once owned, ranging from scripts to mink collars to eyedrops to personal documents now owned by this collector. Also includes photos of sample lots from the famed 1999 Christie’s sale, plus other reference information about Marilyn.

Do you know of a site that belongs in our Collectors Weekly Hall of Fame? Let us know.

By Martin Howard (Copyright 2008)

Martin Howard’s website, antiquetypewriters.com, features his collection of antique typewriters and typewriter accessories, and is a member of our Hall of Fame.

Collecting antique typewriters circa 1900 has been a wonderful experience for me over the years. My collection is really just the tip of the iceberg, as literally hundreds of distinct collectible typewriters were manufactured. There are so many more interesting models that my search will never end. For a collector, though, this is tantalizingly good news!

I also love to restore these typewriters. I’ve spent hundreds of hours working on a single machine, dismantling every part to remove dirt, old oil and rust. It takes a lot of patience, but the pleasures of exploring the mechanisms of a hundred-year old typewriter, and the end result — a beautiful, smoothly operating artifact — is well worth it.

I started collecting typewriters in 1989, when I spotted a very dusty and intriguing item high upon a shelf in a cluttered junk shop. It turned out to be a Caligraph typewriter from the early 1880s. I also collect decorated typewriter ribbon tins, mechanical devices, advertising and letterheads from the period.

The following brief history of early typewriters focuses on the remarkable typewriters from the 1880s and 1890s, when typewriters first emerged in the age of modernism and changed the world.

Part of the magic of these early typewriters is that they are so far away and yet so close. There is a remarkable collective experience that we all have towards typing and an incredible nostalgia for the typewriter, with an intellectual and emotional investment in it as the symbol of writing.

These early typewriters are relevant to just about everyone and create an immediate connection, as one relates to the typing machine, its keyboard and how this tool has impacted ones’ life. These typewriters provoke all sorts of memories from people who have typed as a child or as an adult, to people who have never seen or used a typewriter but type on a computer keyboard.

The First Typewriters

The keyboard provides an essential means for one to communicate and is used by more people today then ever before. Keyboards are arguably one of the most important tools in the world, a tool that represents our personal communication in this technological age. The keyboard truly connects the planet. But what did the first keyboards and typewriters look like and how did they evolve?

Typewriters from the 1930s and 40s all look pretty much the same, they “look like a typewriter”. With four rows of straight keys, single shift and front strike visible (type-bars hit the front of the roller allowing one to see what they have just typed).

Typewriters have not always looked like this though. Just imagine if you, never having seen a typing machine, were asked to design one. How might it look? In fact, the standard big, black machines that you might be familiar with such the Underwood and Remington were the result of many years of mechanical evolution.

During these early years of discovery, ingenuity and mistakes, over four hundred different typing machines were produced to print the written word. Among them were machines with curved keyboards, double keyboards or no keyboards at all!

The first typewriter patent was issued to an English engineer, Henry Mill in 1714. He outlined the concept of the typewriter when he registered a patent for “an artificial machine for impressing letters one after another, as in writing, whereby all writings may be engrossed in paper or parchment, so neat and exact as not to be distinguished from print.” However, this machine was never made.

Many experimental typewriters were built and used during the first 75 years of the nineteenth century but none were produced in quantity. This was about to change though, as the technology for mass production had arrived and the need for fast, accurate business communication was growing. What was needed was a person to bring together all of the successful elements that had been developed so far.

The Sholes & Glidden Machine

This person was Christopher Sholes, an American printer living in Milwaukee. After a shaky start with a number of experimental, prototype machines, Sholes was advised by his financial backer (Glidden) to have his typewriter produced by E. Remington & Sons. This was wise advice as the Remington factory was well equipped to mass-produce complex machines, having already set up production facilities to manufacture guns and later sewing machines. With the American Civil War over and the need for guns diminished, Remington was eager for new business opportunities and embraced the challenge.

In 1874, one thousand Sholes & Glidden typewriters came out of the Remington factory. This typewriter was a beautiful object, all black and covered with hand painted floral decorations. A cast iron foot treadle operated the carriage return. The influence of the sewing machine on its design was clear. To see what had been typed, it was necessary to lift up the carriage and look under the roller, as the type-bars struck on the underside.

The Sholes and Glidden machine was also the first appearance of the “Qwerty” keyboard. The purpose of this layout was to minimize the type-bars from clashing with each other while typing, by separating the type-bars of letters that are frequently typed in sequence (t & h) and letters that are frequently used. Attempts were made to introduce more sensible layouts once typewriter designs had evolved but it was too late, people had already learned one way and understandably did not want to learn again.

The start was slow for the typewriter. With the next typewriter, the Caligraph, not entering the world stage until 1881. However, during the following twenty years everything changed, as the industrial world realized that the typewriter was indispensable.

In Search of Standardization

There was not one inventor of the typewriter, far from it. Hundreds of companies and individuals got into the business of designing and building typewriters. The inventors, having to avoid patent infringements and pursuing their own notion of the better typewriter, created many ingenious mechanisms to get the printed word onto paper. There was little if any apparent design progression for these first typewriters.

A great variety of machines were invented, out of which the most efficient combinations of mechanisms were gradually selected. Some mechanisms, too advanced, disappeared until a later time. Each mechanism solved a particular problem, but not always in the best way. There were notable successes and failures!

Full keyboard typewriters were very expensive, costing between $60 and $100 (a clerk’s wage was $5 a week, with a horse drawn carriage costing between $40 & $70. ). With few second-hand machines to be had, a less expensive machine was needed. Thus, the “index machine” was born. This typewriter had no keyboard. Instead, a dial or knob was turned to select the character to be printed. Typing was slow, but the cost was right at $5 to $30 per machine. The index machine was popular for small businesses and home use. Many varieties were produced. As second hand machines became available and touch-typing was discovered around 1900, the market for index typewriters disappeared.

By 1896 many components, combinations and designs had been tried and the winner was emerging. A typewriter with the correct combination of successful components, a typing machine that would usher in the new century, conquer the world and put an end to this period of rich diversity in typewriter history. The Underwood had arrived.

This article contains images in the following order:

1. Wilson’s Silk Spun Ribbon Tin
2. Example of a 1930s and 1940s typewriter
3. Victor 1889. Boston. The World’s first “Daisy Wheel” typewriter.
4. Malling Hansen’s typing ball. Denmark 1878.
5. Sholes & Gliddon typewriter
6. Hammond New York 1881
7. Columbia New York 1885: The black handle is turned to select a character on the dial and then the handle is pushed down to type.
8. Odell 2 Chicago 1890: The small handle on top slides back and forth like a trombone handle to select the characters

Do you have an article you’d like us to publish as a guest column in The Collectors Weekly? Let us know.

By Simon Wintle (Copyright 2008)

Simon Wintle is the man behind The World of Playing Cards, a great reference source on antique and vintage playing cards and a member of our Hall of Fame.

For over six centuries - apart from its functionality as a number game - the playing card has been chosen as a medium for artistry, aesthetic endeavour and ornamental design, ranging from hand-painted and engraved cards for medieval patrons, to the chromo-lithographic delights and transformation cards of the nineteenth century, and the designer and art packs of the twentieth and twenty-first centuries.

Early Playing Cards and Their Uses

The earliest playing cards were hand-painted, often gilded, and designed to be beautiful objects. Packs of cards were mentioned in wills and inventories, and given as wedding presents, so would have been considered valuable and precious. Not only were cards gilded and painted in many colours, and not merely decorated with ornamental patterns, but often the designs themselves showed great artistic skill, harmony of colour and grace of forms.

A cluster of early literary references refer to the game being introduced by ‘a Saracen’, ‘the Moorish Game’ etc. Etymological evidence also suggests that the Arabs introduced playing cards into Europe in the second half of the fourteenth century and that European cards evolved from the suit system and composition of these cards.

Playing cards have always served two distinct purposes: gambling, and the playing of games of skill. Their introduction provided a new alternative to dice and knuckle bones. Evidently both kinds of game existed in Europe since the first introduction of playing cards. Prohibitions of card playing and denunciations by preachers demonstrate their widespread use for gambling. However, instances of playing cards being used for games of skill are also recorded, as well as instances of moralising, allegory and representations of the social hierarchy.

Man’s mind likes to categorise and classify experience… the elements, cardinal points, lunar cycles, virtues, heavenly spheres, temperaments, taxonomies and hierarchies. Many packs of playing cards have been designed as such a system, a practical ‘mnemonic’ or device for representing life’s basic facts, a memory aid or teaching tool, a means of condensing knowledge. The subject can be anything from botany to heraldry, from cosmology to geography. Political satire has also been an inspiration for playing cards.

The format of the pack - suit symbols, numeral cards, court hierarchy - has served many secondary purposes beyond a gaming device. It can be used for predicting the future, and in the case of the tarot, it has become a popular religion. In view of this, fanciful or exotic theories have been suggested to explain the origins or true meaning of the pack of playing cards and its symbolism. However, the early evidence suggests that it was nothing more than a new kind of game, at least to begin with. What has happened since then is another story…

The Evolution of European Cards

The first European references to playing cards date from the 1370s and come from Catalonia (Spain), Florence, France, Sienna, Viterbo (Italy), southern Germany, Switzerland and Brabant. No cards from this early survive, but the sources indicate that cards were being painted ‘in gold and various colours’ or ‘painted and gilded’ which suggests luxury packs. The earliest surviving cards are from the fifteenth century.

The Medieval mind delighted in the ornate and colourful, and the art of the miniature was much admired and practised. The diverse cultural context led to a diversity of playing card types. Whereas France was the leading centre for manuscript illumination, Germany led woodcut and engravings, which have a close affinity to printed matter. The Renaissance flowered in Italy, whilst Moorish influence endured in Spain until the 15th century.

The increase in demand for cultural objects led to the inventing of quicker and cheaper production methods… woodcuts, movable type, paper instead of parchment, multiple copies. As card-playing became more popular production was accelerated by these alternative processes, including hand-made cards, cards printed from woodblocks or using stencils, or other improvised techniques.

More expensive cards were produced from engravings in copper using the skills of the goldsmith and engraver. These cards have greater detail and a more naturalistic use of line. Such packs were given as wedding gifts, bequeathed as heirlooms, and regarded as valuable commodities. They were often produced for collectors.

Luxury hand-painted packs were only available to a few, who enjoyed them privately or with select company. The printed or mechanically-produced versions, cruder in design and execution, were viewed simultaneously by larger audiences but were prone to deteriorate more rapidly.

Sources of Imagery

The craftsmen’s tradition throughout the medieval period was to work from sketch-book models, collected on scraps of vellum. These models were copied time after time, so that images spread between workshops and from master to pupil. Images acquired during journeys abroad often contained errors of observation and proportion which were compounded by subsequent copying.

Imagery on many early playing cards resembles the stock repertory of animals, plants, birds and flowers which recurs almost identically in the marginal drollery, miniature illustrations and trompe l’oeil of widely divergent manuscripts, as well as in playing cards. Often the theme was a playful allusion to tournaments, cavorting children or mock warfare between animals. Cards were produced by painters whose main source of income might have been other forms of painting, not necessarily playing cards.

Designs would also have been influenced by written texts and moralised stories. Plants from the herbal, beasts from the bestiary, birds and insects from the Books of Hours, all suggesting a symbolism, a semiotic language, echoed the everyday world of popular beliefs and proverbial wisdom. The pack of playing cards gained a format and structure of its own, and became a new language.

Many early examples of playing cards are preserved inside the covers of old books, where they were used as pasteboard to stiffen the covers. This is fortunate, because nearly all the others have perished.

The Renaissance, Suit Systems and National Types

With the onset of the Renaissance in Italy, the new spirit of Humanism was spreading through Europe bringing a change of form and direction. This did not reach certain parts of Europe until the high and late Renaissance in the 16th century.

Artists were commissioned to paint anything from wall frescoes through Books of Hours to illuminated playing cards, thereby exhibiting the taste and cultivation of the patron. In some cases the imagery had an esoteric, Christian, instructional or philosophical content, whilst in other cases it was based upon popular culture, or else merely conventional or adorned with the owner’s heraldic devices.

By about 1500 three main suit systems had evolved: Latin (including Italian, Spanish and Portuguese); Germanic (German and Swiss) and French. First came the Latin suit systems, which are still employed in Spain and the Americas, Italy, the Philippines, some parts of France and North Africa. Germanic suit systems (including Swiss) evolved after a period of experimentation with different combinations of suits, and finally the French suit system was invented which has become the most widely-used suit system around the world.

These suit systems became the basis for various Standard National patterns, or National Types, which were associated with specific regions or tax jurisdictions. These were cards for everyday use, as opposed to luxury packs. Many have remained unchanged for centuries, being handed down through the generations, preserving their medieval characteristics. Others have evolved into modern types.

The Origins of Modern Playing Card Design

The design of playing cards involves a balance between utilitarian constraints and artistic possibilities. The basic purpose of playing cards hasn’t changed much in the last 625 years, but the fundamental precepts and principles of design and print have been continuously developing and improving to the present day. Tradition - or conservatism - bears quite heavily on the design of standard cards, especially the court cards, but originality can be refreshing in a well-designed pack.

In around 1820 Hunt was the first manufacturer to modernize his design with a complete redrawing, in which he attempted to rationalize some of the idiosyncrasies which had crept into playing card designs. In 1832, after an attempt to introduce new ‘modernized’ designs, Thomas De la Rue imitated the earlier wood-block style in the new technology of letterpress. These designs were subsequently redrawn with more decoration and became the basis for all their double-ended courts.

In 1840 Reynolds also modernized its court card designs with an overlay of decorative scroll-work and patterning on the clothing. Other makers experimented with novelties or variations in the design details, such as headgear, crowns, faces, etc. Charles Goodall, for example, produced ‘modernized’ court card designs, with some unusual features, which did not last long.

In 1860, Goodall produced a completely new design in double-ended format only, and which is still in use today in multiple imitations world-wide. The reduction of Playing Card duty from one shilling to threepence in 1862 led to expansions in playing card sales, and no doubt new players were tempted to enter the market. Manufacturers, in general, began taking pride in the quality and elegance of their designs, so as to attract the best clientèle, and from this time onwards special personalised Aces of Spades were designed, instead of the ‘Old Frizzle’ duty ace.

About Jokers

The extra “Joker” card is believed to have been invented by American Euchre players who, when modifying the rules sometime during the 1860s, decided that an extra trump card was required. Originally he was called “The Best Bower” and then later “The Jolly Joker”.

These Jokers, or extra cards, were first introduced into American packs around 1863, but took a little longer to reach English packs, in around 1880. One British manufacturer (Chas Goodall) was manufacturing packs with Jokers for the American market in the 1870s.

It has been suggested (Dianne Longley, 1999) that “the Joker is the ‘wild-card’, or the card of opportunity, not unlike the ethos of opportunity and individuality that has been the driving force behind America’s pursuit of greatness.”

For More Information

For more information on the design, history and imagery of antique and vintage playing cards, visit The World of Playing Cards website, which includes in-depth information and galleries of cards from specific artists and eras, a collectible decks for-sale page, and a replica 17th Century card deck.

Do you have an article you’d like us to publish as a guest column in The Collectors Weekly? Let us know.

By Ernesto Soler (Copyright 2008)

Ernesto Soler is a pen collector and the webmaster of Parker51.com, a member of our Hall of Fame.

The Parker “51,” produced by the Parker Pen Company, is considered by many collectors to be the best pen ever made. Developed in 1939 and introduced in the U.S. market in 1941, it soon became widely imitated by most pen manufacturers. To this day, its shape and design remain widely recognizable and it seems to never become dated.

My main collecting interest is the Parker “51″ and its many variations, from pre-production varieties all the way to the last U.S. models produced around 1972. My pursuit includes its history and advertising ephemera. I use a Parker “51″ every day, modified to fit my taste, such as a custom Torelli-made hand hammered copper cap with a smooth fine nib (I write a lot of numbers for a living…) or a “51 Imperial” converted from an original Parker Vacumatic, with a stub nib (for those million dollar contracts…)

How I Caught the Pen Collecting Bug

The first “51″ I ever saw sat in my father’s drawer since the days of my early childhood. I remember the glistening gold cap and its futuristic shape. It was not until after my college graduation that my father gave me his old “51″ that had put him through medical school, along with a “21″ and my grandmother’s Duofold. Out of the three pens, the “51″ always caught my attention, with its classic lines and elegant look. I often tried to fill it and write with it, but its mangled nib had seen better days.

It was not until years later that I discovered vintage pens via the internet. Someone was advertising a restored “51″ with a gold-filled cap and burgundy barrel. It was exactly like my father’s, or at least I thought so. When the pen arrived, I was surprised at how different it looked from my father’s. It had an obviously older looking clip with a blue diamond, and for the life of me, I could not unscrew that barrel to fill it! All that I achieved was to unscrew the front to reveal this strange looking nib. After a few minutes, I discovered that the end of the barrel also unscrewed to reveal a little plastic plunger. How neat, I thought. When did they make this pen? What is it called?

Over the next few months I discovered that this was a Vacumatic filling “51″ versus my father’s old Aerometric filling “51″. I had caught the pen-collecting bug. Months later, I saw a classified ad in an antiques newspaper, advertising old fountain pens for sale. I called, and it turned out that the guy selling lived half-an-hour from my house. He faxed me a list of his collection, and I quickly made an appointment to look at a “Big Red”.

When I arrived, the seller was ready with his large leather pouch, displaying a dizzying array of overlays and oversize pens. Out of the bunch, a “51″ set glimmered with their shiny gold caps. I quickly said “Hey, that wasn’t on the list”. “Oh, I just picked it up at a garage sale”, he answered. I picked up the set to look at it, and immediately knew I had to have it. The caps were pristine, and it had a jewel at the end of the barrel, instead of the usual rounded ends I had seen. I noticed that the jewel on the cap was a shiny metal. “Is this normal?”, I asked in ignorance. “Oh yes, they are more desirable that way,” he answered.

I walked out of his house a very happy man, not really knowing what I had bought, except that it was the best looking pen and pencil set I had ever seen. For the next few weeks I studied the set carefully. It had a metal filler instead of plastic, the Parker “51″ imprint was on the blind cap and not the barrel, and most odd, the cap had a metal jewel, but the barrel jewel was pearl. I read all available books, but they provided little help except that aluminum jewels were a feature of the first year “51″ pen.

I posted questions on the internet, but the answers were discouraging, such as; “It is probably a mis-matched pen”; “I don’t think they made pencils in the first year”; “No one knows exactly what a first year “51″ pen looks like”. Out of frustration and new found admiration for the “51″, I decided to concentrate my collecting endeavors on the “51″, and to find out as much as possible about it. My website is a compilation of my findings. It will hopefully help new collectors find out about the “51″ in a fast, concise manner.

History of the Parker 51

The Parker “51″ is one of the most successful pens ever produced. In a poll by the Illinois Institute of Technology, it was voted the fourth best industrial design of the twentieth century. The Parker “51″ was a revolutionary design when it debuted, advertised as “Ten Years Ahead” of its time.

It had a gold nib that was fitted inside a hood to “trap any overflow and traps it inside-makes this a Pen that won’t flood, leak or sweat-yet keeps the point surrounded by ink, thus makes it a split second starter!” Made of 14kt gold, the nib required more gold than the average fountain pen nib. The body was sleek and the material used was Lucite, a very stable and durable plastic material needed to withstand the high acidity of the special Parker “51″ ink uniquely developed for this pen.

Development of the Parker “51″ was completed in 1939, the 51st anniversary of the Parker Pen Company, thus its name. Pre-production models were test-marketed in Venezuela and other Caribbean countries in early 1940, before the pen’s general introduction into the U.S. The places where the pen was test-marketed included Caracas and Maracaibo, Venezuela; Barranquilla, Columbia; Port of Spain, Trinidad and Tobago; and Curacao, Netherland Antilles. These locations were picked because of the tropical climate and high humidity, extreme conditions usually not found in the U.S.

These test-market pens looked essentially as the “51s” later introduced in the U.S. with a few differences. Mainly the clip was without the Blue Diamond guarantee, similar to the Vacumatic clips of the era, but uniquely sized to fit the “51″ caps. Most of the test market pens were fitted with a Lustroloy “wedding band” cap. In addition, the test market pens had a steel nib, unlike the 14k gold nib used in later production pens. Curiously, some of the colors used in the test markets did not carry into production, such as the “raspberry” red pens. Parker lore has it that when Mrs. Parker saw the pen she rejected it because it looked too much like blood, although later Parker used essentially the same color in its Parker 61 line.

Later in 1940, from August to November, three store tests were conducted stateside in Chicago, Philadelphia and Champaign, Illinois with great fanfare and success. This was followed by further introduction in San Francisco, Salt Lake City, Denver and the state of Wisconsin. The world premier took place in January 1941.

Parker developed its own special ink to be used only with the Parker “51″, that was fast drying, highly waterproof, sunfast and had brighter colors, appropriately named “Parker 51 Ink”, which came in four colors; Early pre-production pens were produced in all of the colors that went later into mass production, including the rarer colors such as Yellowstone Yellow, Nassau Green and Bucskin Beige.

The pre-production pens do differ in shades of colors, with the Nassau Green being the most distinguishable, being a much deeper green. In addition, some test market colors never made it into production, such as the above mentioned green, an ultramarine blue and the newly discovered mauve shown below, speckled with black specks throughout the barrel and hood. In addition, early pre-production pens from 1940 will not have a date code.

The pen’s official premiere did not take place until January 1941. Unfortunately for Parker, this was a very tumultuous economic and social era for the U.S. Franklin D. Roosevelt had just been elected to an unprecedented third term, the economy had been in a depression for nearly 11 years and the U.S. was preparing for possible involvement in the war in Europe. The Parker “51″ was an expensive pen. Even the basic model at $12.50 was considerably more expensive than the Parker Vacumatic Maxima model at $10.00. The average weekly wage for a factory worker in January 1941 was $26.64.

Thoughts on Collecting Parker 51 Pens

Not too long ago, the Parker “51″ was not really regarded as a vintage pen or collectible pen. Million of pens were made, and were still readily available, at very affordable prices. Parts for “51s” were plentiful. This has all started to change in the last few years. Parker “51s” are being rediscovered by those people that remember them from their youth, or have fond memories of their fathers or grandfathers writing with one.

There is an enormous variety of “51s” to be collected, and within a short period of time, almost anyone can assemble a representative collection. There is a large number of common “51s” at affordable prices that make excellent user pens, often much cheaper than an equivalent modern pen. Only the rarest colors and cap patterns command high prices.

As many experienced collectors know, it’s hard to make generalizations about a mass produced product that was never meant to be collected, but rather used and repaired. Dealers often accommodated special requests from customers, resulting in mixed parts across the years. And repairs were done to get the instrument back in writing condition, most of the time with whatever parts were on hand.

For the collector, clean, unblemished caps are essential, and well worth the premium paid if you ever attempt to resell. Brushed stainless steel, or Lustroloy, Parker’s trademark name for this finish, are the most common caps, followed by gold filled caps, sterling silver caps and solid gold caps. Lustroloy caps are most often found in excellent shape because of the hardness of the metal. Gold filled caps, sterling caps and solid gold caps are often difficult to locate in pristine condition, and are usually found with dings or dents, which greatly diminishes their value.

Versions with jewels at the end of the barrel, or blind cap, also known as double jewels (DJ), are rarer than the ones with a rounded blind cap. Double jewels are in high demand, with prices often two or three times that of a single jewel version. As user pens, the later aerometric filler holds an edge over the earlier vacumatic pens, mostly because they are almost always working, and need little or no repair, except for a good flush of the old dried up ink. The vacumatic filling mechanism almost always needs replacement of the rubber diaphragm, and can be hard to work on if you are not experienced with them. In reality, comparable aerometric filling “51s” are usually more expensive than the vacumatic versions, mostly because of their reliability.

More Information on Parker 51s

Values. Although the “51″ was mass produced with over 300 million pens made, it has become a hot collectible in the last 10 years. Not all “51s” are the same, and while the vast majority are well under $100, some of the rarer examples can command thousands of dollars. The most common 51, say a Parker “51″ special is worth around $20 unrestored, with some of the more rare examples with solid gold caps and unusual colors worth into the thousands of dollars. Condition is also very important. Dented caps and engraved names will reduce the value of most “51s”.

Recent models. The last Parker “51″ was made in the U.S. around 1972, although production continued into the 1980’s in South America. In 2001, Parker re-introduced the Parker “51″ as a limited edition. Although similiar in looks and functionality, it is in reality a very different pen from the original.

Special marks and features. Most Parker “51″ came with a 14k nib. But, in 1950 Parker introduced the lower-end Special “51″ with an Octanium nib, a steel alloy. Most of these pens are marked Special “51″, but late production in the 60s seem to have 14k gold nibs while marked Special. Also, you must keep in mind that through the years, a lot of nibs have been replaced, often with what was available. Additionally, some Parker “51″ have a blue diamond on the clip. The Blue Diamond was Parker’s mark for lifetime warranty. The Blue diamond was removed in mid-1947 due to an FTC ruling against lifetime warranties.

Repairs and upgrades. Note that many pens on the market at auction are unrestored and using one without getting it serviced is literally gambling. Old vacumatic fillers may seem to work initially, but will likely fail in the future. Old aerometric fillers will probably have a good sac, but in a lot of cases the breather tube will be clogged and corroded, and as a result the pen will not fill completely. Fortunately, parts for Parker “51s” are plentiful and in almost all instances a Parker “51″ can be brought back to perfect working order by most competent pen repairmen. However, generally you can’t get a flexible nib for your “51″. In its service manuals Parker instructed its repairmen to fit the hood right up to the nib. This was done to regulate flow. By definition, a flexible nib needs some space to “flex”.

If you have any Parker “51″ pens, pencils or ephemera that you think I might like to buy or would like an appraisal or opinion, please visit my site and email me. I buy anything “51″, including parts, at competitive prices. I can be found at most pen shows in the U.S, so please ask to see if I will be at the next show.

Do you have an article you’d like us to publish as a guest column in The Collectors Weekly? Let us know.

By Phil Nelson (Copyright 2008)

Phil Nelson runs Phils Old Radios, a member of our Hall of Fame, and a great resource for information on antique radios.

You’ve just acquired an old radio, but apart from the manufacturer’s name on the front, you don’t know a blessed thing about it. Learning more about your radio may satisfy your curiosity, or it may serve a practical purpose such as helping you get repair information. Here’s how to go about identifying antique radios, and then how to decide if it’s playable.

Identifying Radios By Manufacturer, Name, and Model Numbers

Tens of thousands of different radio models were manufactured over the decades, in the US alone. Many thousands more were manufactured worldwide. Most of the radios sold over those decades are not very interesting. For every rare and unusual radio, there were thousands of cheap and common radios.

The normal way to identify a radio is by manufacturer and model number (for example, “Zenith 7G605″ or “Philco 42-350″). Model numbers can include any combination of letters and numbers, and they may be long or short, although most are from two to six characters in length. There is no standardization whatsoever for model numbers. Every manufacturer was free to make up its own scheme, and often a given manufacturer would change its numbering scheme over the years.

Model numbers are often printed on a paper label attached to the back, inside, or bottom of the radio cabinet. The label usually contains other information, such as a serial number, tube diagram, or even a complete schematic diagram. The model number may also be printed somewhere on the cabinet itself. On my Zenith TransOceanic H500, the number is printed in white ink inside the hinged back cover.

Most radios also list various patent numbers. These are pretty useless for identification, because virtually all radio makers licensed several technology patents from other manufacturers, and they were required by law to disclose those patent licenses. If you look at a bunch of old radios, you’ll see that many of them list exactly the same patents.

Patent notices often include dates, but those do not tell you when the radio was made. They only indicate when the patent was originally granted, which could be many years earlier. So a patent date merely tells you that the radio could not have been made before that date.

Some radios have a name in addition to (or, occasionally, instead of) a model number. For instance, my Crosley F5-TWE was known as the “Musical Chef,” and that name is actually printed on the front of its cabinet. Hundreds of different names were used over the decades—everything from the predictable (”Globetrotter”) to the alliterative (Zenith “Zenette”) to the fanciful (”Phantom Baby”). The name may be handy if a collector guide happens to list your set by name instead of by model number.

Resources for Identifying Your Old Radio

Collector books list thousands of radios, often with approximate values. The Slusser (formerly Bunis) collector guide is one of the most popular, although it’s by no means the only show in town.

Technical service publications are another great source of information. These include Rider’s, Sams Photofacts, Most Needed Radio Diagrams, and so on. Technical references were published for radio repair shops and they are still to be found in many public libraries.

Radio collectors may be able to help. If you haven’t already done so, look for a radio collector club in your vicinity. The Antique Radio Classified website has an extensive list of clubs in North America.

Newsgroups. If there’s no club nearby, another possibility is the USENET newsgroup rec.antiques.radio+phono. Although that group is concerned mainly with technical discussions, some members are willing to help with identifications.

Websites. When I launched my site in August, 1995, there was only one other website like it in the world. Now there are dozens, with more appearing all the time. A radio website might happen to show your radio, or perhaps its webmaster is willing to field your question. Speaking of which—if you’ve tried all these channels and struck out, feel free to send me some email. I usually have time to make a quick scan of my collector books to see if a radio is listed.

Other Identifying Features

Even if your radio has lost its label or logo, or perhaps never had them to begin with, you can still identify the set, though it may take some detective work. Here’s some things to look at:

Component markings. If the outside lacks identifiers, the inside may still hold clues. Look inside the chassis—if you see the same manufacturer’s name stamped on all the tubes and other components, that’s a tipoff. On the other hand, it’s not unusual to see a mixture of brand names on components. Many manufacturers got components from other suppliers. And radios that were repaired over the years often have a random assortment of replacement parts under the hood.

Cabinet design. Often a strong indicator of when a radio was made. The very earliest radios were typically bare components mounted on a board. Somewhat later, many were housed in comparatively plain wooden or metal boxes. By the late 1920s, some were housed in elaborate cabinets designed to look like “real furniture” instead of electronic gear. Cathedral and tombstone style wooden cabinets were most popular during the 1930s. The 1940s were the heyday of “Machine Age” and other design trends.

Cabinet materials. 1920s radios were typically housed in wood, although some tabletops came in rather plain metal cabinets. Bakelite and Catalin were the most popular synthetic materials during the 1930s and 1940s. Other early plastics, such as Plaskon and Beetle, predated the flood of new synthetics that came along during the 1950s. Wooden cabinets were used during all periods from the 1920s to the present.

Dial Markings. The band and frequency markings on the dial can tell you something about a radio’s age. The earliest 1920s radios did not show any station numbers; instead, their knobs were marked with numbers from 0-100 or sometimes nothing at all. If your radio has a band marked Police or Aircraft, it was probably made before World War II; those frequencies are no longer used for such communications. Shortwave radio was common from early days, but FM broadcasting wasn’t developed until the 1930s. The FM band frequencies were changed after World War II, so if you have a radio that tunes FM from 42-50 megahertz rather than the modern 88-108 megahertz band, you know it was manufactured before 1942. A radio that has FM stereo was made in the late 1950s at the earliest. Civil Defense (CD) markings on the AM dial at 640 and 1240 kilohertz indicate that the radio was made between 1953 and 1963.

Tubes. The very oldest tubes looked more like light bulbs and had screw-type connections. Most 1920s tubes had glass envelopes and large bakelite bases with four or five pins. 1930s and 1940s tubes typically had glass or metal envelopes and six, seven, or eight pins. Locking (”loktal”) metal bases were used for a few years in the late 1940s. They were superseded in the 1950s by all-glass “miniature” tubes with very thin pins. Keep in mind that different tube types overlapped. For example, some radios continued to use loktal or older tube types into the 1950s. However, if your radio uses glass miniature tubes, you know it must have been made after the end of World War II, and was likely made in the 1950s or later.

Transistors. Transistors were introduced in 1957, so every transistor radio is dated after that time. Transistors didn’t become common until the 1960s.

Before Turning On Your Radio

If you just brought home an antique radio, you’re probably dying to play it immediately. That could be an expensive mistake unless the set was professionally repaired before you bought it. If the radio has a short circuit or defective component, turning it on could further damage the set or even start a fire. You should always check an unknown radio for gross problems before you turn it on—otherwise, “firing it up” might be a sadly literal experience!

A few problems can be spotted visually. For example, if the power cord is broken, cracked, or frayed, you must replace it before trying to plug in the radio. Some other problems can be spotted by looking at the chassis. (This is the metal box inside the cabinet, upon which other components are mounted.)

Some radios have backs and others don’t. If the radio has a back, you’ll need to remove it to inspect the components (tubes, etc.) on top of the chassis. The cabinet back is usually attached with a handful of small screws or clips. As you remove it, be careful not to break any antenna wires that may be attached. Some newer radios will have an integrated connector for the power cord, which unplugs the cord from the chassis as you (gently!) remove the back.

After the back has been removed, you should look for gross problems include missing or broken tubes, and anything else that’s obviously absent, broken, disconnected, fried, or massively corroded. If you see any of these signs, count on repairing the set before you power it up.

In almost all cases, the radio’s electronic components—tubes, capacitors, resistors, etc.—will look exactly the same whether they have failed completely or they are working perfectly. When a radio is turned off, a dead tube looks just like a good one. A shorted capacitor looks just like a good one, and so on.

Many experienced restorers would not bother trying out the radio at this stage. Instead, they would remove the chassis and routinely replace most or all of the old capacitors. If you’re a beginner, you won’t learn anything useful by looking under the chassis. And plugging in the radio outside the cabinet will only increase your risk of getting an electrical shock. But you can read all about this process in my article Replacing Capacitors in Old Radios. Whether you want to take this cautious approach is up to you.

Let’s assume that either you have finished the capacitor replacement or you’re willing to risk firing up the radio as-is. Either way, most restorers will power up the radio using a gadget called a variac which lets you slowly increase the voltage, watching for any danger signs along the way. If you don’t have a variac, you can use an inexpensive homemade substitute. Our Dim-Bulb Tester page gives directions on building and using such a device. In addition to increasing the voltage by increments, a dim-bulb tester can also warn you of short circuits in the radio’s power supply.

If you don’t have either one, you can simply turn on the power switch and cross your fingers, but I advise against that practice, for all the reasons given above. Once the voltage has been increased to full power, turn the volume control up about one-third of the way and tune the radio dial to a strong local station. Within about fifteen seconds, the tubes should begin to glow with a faint orange color. (Exceptions are metal-cased tubes, which have an opaque covering, or very-low voltage tubes such as those in old Zenith TransOceanics.)

Watch closely for anything unusual as the radio warms up. A slightly hot smell is normal, especially if the radio is dusty, but a strong burning smell indicates trouble. The same goes for any sparking sounds or smoke, which usually indicates a serious problem. If the radio plays normally, take a moment to congratulate yourself, then turn it off until you have time to replace the capacitors (see above).

If you hear a loud humming sound that does not change when you turn the volume control, that is caused by failed filter capacitors in the power supply. The radio will not work until you replace them.

If it Sounds OK, Can I Use It?

You can play an unrestored radio all you want . . . if you don’t mind the risk that it will fail at any time without warning. In my experience, most unrestored radios will conk out—typically with one or more failed capacitors—before long. And if you go in to replace that failed capacitor, it’s only a short time before the next one will fail, and so on.

To get a radio that is safe and reliable to use every day, it’s best to replace all of the old capacitors at once. If you choose not to do that, I strongly advise that you never leave the room while the radio is playing, or leave it playing overnight. It’s just not worth the risk. A few unrestored radios might play for a long time without problems. Others can start on fire—it has happened to me!

Images in this article include the following:

1. Zenith TransOceanic 6G601M
2. Wooden Philco 90
3. Emerson 558 Tube Portable
4. Plastic Zephyr 1
5. Buick Trans-portable Transistor
6. Zenith Y724 Bakelite
7. Zenith TransOceanic G500

Do you have an article you’d like us to publish as a guest column in The Collectors Weekly? Let us know.