In a weak moment, some months ago, I 'won" this on the auction site. No , no, not this, the one below. anyway. the cabinet was just funky. I have no idea what that finish was.
Emerson built a lot of inexpensive AC/DC radios in the late 30s and this is one of them. I suspect that they would be totally uninteresting to radio collectors if it were not for the Ingram cabinets. I have posted about Emerson/Ingram before. One of the best examples is the "Mae West" which has become quite valuable.
There are several other blog posts on Emerson:
Emerson built a lot of inexpensive AC/DC radios in the late 30s and this is one of them. I suspect that they would be totally uninteresting to radio collectors if it were not for the Ingram cabinets. I have posted about Emerson/Ingram before. One of the best examples is the "Mae West" which has become quite valuable.
There are several other blog posts on Emerson:
https://www.russoldradios.com/blog/emerson-from-1940
https://www.russoldradios.com/blog/i-havent-been-goofing-off-much
After restoration
"Before" - - yet after something. Below Taken from the sale ad.
One of the biggest problems with restoring one of these Ingram cabinets is the loss of the "plastic' inlay that is most often red or purple(ish). It can be made but is a difficult task. Radios missing this trim are less valuable because of the difficulty associated with replacement of the inlay. See just below the cabinet top below.
The radio had been repaired in a manner similar to the refinish. There were plenty of added terminal strips and the associated extra wire. The original wire was in bad shape. The speaker had been replaced with a permanent magnet type. A large choke had been mounted inside of the chassis to replace the missing field coil.
This radio used GT and metal style tubes. They probably would have been branded "Emerson" or Arcturus.
This radio used GT and metal style tubes. They probably would have been branded "Emerson" or Arcturus.
I replated the top of the chassis because somebody had been polishing on it. You know, where the plating is polished off reveling the shiny steel chassis - that will rust in short time.. OOO! SHINEY!. BAD, don't do that. Besides you shouldn't be doing that to cadmium plating unless you have a way of dealing with the toxic dust. So, I just plated over it with zinc.
I was able to find most of the missing original components. Three terminal strips were removed along with those replacement components and a lot of extra wire.. There were some pretty big puddles of solder where the replacement choke for the missing field coil had been attached. They were removed. Almost all of the wire was replaced by modern push-back and synthetic (rubber wire replacement). I found an Emerson speaker that matched all the specs but it is slightly smaller. If I ever find the correct one I'll swap it out.
Russ
Mae West Below
Russ
Mae West Below
- - - - I'm sure that you are just happy to see me.
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