What is my Radio Worth ?

The only easy answer is to buy one of the many valuation books which can be found at Antique Electronic Supply. This is probably a good idea in any case since they usually include a good background and useful information for the beginning collector. I am not so much a collector - I like working on these things and my collection as such is not very large. I also use some of my radios on a daily basis.

I am not about to say that the radio you inherited from your Aunt Hermione is worth a particular sum of money and I am not going to get involved in appraisals. For this you should get in contact with  a good radio club such as the   London Vintage Radio Club in Southern Ontario. I will however, discuss this in a general fashion:

• Anything is only as valuable as what someone is willing to pay for it. My nephew found out about that when his collection of Pokemon cards  became worthless after  the craze ended. There are fads in antique radio collecting just as in anything else. Some years ago wooden cathedral radios were the fad and their values went very high. They are much more realistic in price now and are still a desirable and pleasing collectible item. Plastic Catalin radios are the subject of a frenzy at the moment but  I believe that this will eventually cool off. This said, however, they are still rare, esthetically pleasing objects which will probably always have considerable value.
• If your radio is in the right place at the right time it will always bring a higher price than if you are simply trying to unload it in a hurry. Obviously, if there are two rich guys who simply have to have your radio to complete a collection standing in front of you the sky may be the limit, but this is obviously not a common situation. To get a good price you may have to do quite a bit of legwork.
• Condition is vitally important. If you are missing important pieces of trim this substantially reduces the value. A working radio is normally worth considerably more than a non - functioning one. The only exception to this rule (and it isn't really an exception) is that a valuable radio in original (un - repaired) condition will be worth more than one which has been modified and / or repaired with a lot of modern components. Restoration is the only option here - with heavy emphasis on maintaining correct appearance.
• Novelty radios are worth only as much as standard radios without the novelty decals / figures; some people are going to the point where they are re - manufacturing these (I have seen a web site which is advertising excellent Charley McCarthy figurines for sale). I have no real quarrel with using one to restore a real Charley McCarthy radio but I see a potential for fraud in this. Certainly, there are a lot of Coca - Cola (tm) radios for sale nowadays and I am somewhat suspicious of this. Let the buyer beware.
• Mint condition is an almost meaningless term nowadays. It seems to be used to describe anything from good condition on up; to me, mint means unused and preferably in its original container. I would guess that an unused Hopalong Cassidy or Charley McCarthy radio in its original shipping container would bring a strong five figure price; certainly they bring hundreds of dollars in reasonable condition. Since most of these novelty radios were bought for children there are not a lot of them left.
• There are some very valuable radios which are not part of the Catalin fad. The Atwater - Kent model 5 comes to mind; in almost any restorable condition this will be worth 4 figures;  5 figures in good to excellent condition. Note that that means untouched condition: later components or improvements will severely reduce value. I would not repair or restore one of these - they deserve museum type care. Many other very early (before 1925) radios are also very valuable.
• Note that because an Atwater - Kent model 5 is valuable this does not make all Atwater - Kent radios valuable: they made a lot of middle - class radios that despite their technical excellence are not really very rare or unique. There were not many model 5's made, they were a radio that worked well at a time when many radios didn't, and, despite having their components on view, they were quite good looking.
• Almost without exception,  the most valuable radios are those which are esthetically pleasing  (I cannot think of any right now but there may be one or two examples). The most valuable radio that I am aware of is the Sparton Bluebird. This is a visually stunning mirrored art deco radio that typically sells for 30 to 50 thousand USD. I don't think that it's electronics are particularly outstanding but it is a work of art (I would love to own one).
• Any of the Sparton mirrored art deco radios are very collectible and quite valuable. Note that Art Deco is also a term which is also being made meaningless by overuse. It is narrowly defined and quite specific in intent - the style came in in the late 1920s and had largely gone out by the late 1930's.Art  Deco radios were not being made after the war. My feeling is that true Art Deco objects will remain highly desirable and collectible.
• Good looking wooden radios still command a premium over standard Bakelite (brown plastic) radios. Bakelite radios were sometimes painted but they are still Bakelite. I think that the price for Bakelite radios may increase over time if they are attractive designs but many of them are not highly attractive - they were cheap and utilitarian.
• Catalin radios are desirable because the material was intrinsically attractive. They were also quite expensive to make as they required hand finishing; consequently, they were not terribly common. The material also deteriorates much faster than Bakelite so the wastage rate is higher. Note that most Catalin radios are standard AA5 radios with an undistinguished electronic design. (see discussion of AA5 radios here)
• World War II accelerated the development of plastics tremendously. There were a wide variety of new, colourful plastics available in the 1940's, 50's, and 60's which were used extensively in the production of low cost radios. Some of these designs were / are stunningly attractive. I do not think that prices reflect this yet and there are still a lot of bargains out there - especially since young people are increasingly using these for accent pieces in interior decorating.
• Console radios are a very difficult subject. There are a number of conflicting trends which make valuing them difficult. In their favour is the fact that they are generally very attractive, feature filled radios which still sound very good. The better consoles were made like costly furniture and have sophisticated electronic designs which were evaluated by actually listening to them. Modern consumer electronics are made to conform to arbitrary specifications; nowadays only very expensive components are evaluated with listening tests. Many of the better consoles (even by mass manufacturers) were auditioned by musicians and carefully tweaked to get the best out of contemporary recordings and broadcasts. They still sound surprisingly good today and many people will find that they are easier to listen to than most modern mass market offerings.
• The problem with consoles is their size. Most people have room for only one or two of them - certainly very few people can afford the space for a comprehensive collection of antique console radios. They are also very expensive and difficult to ship anywhere. This tends to depress the value of consoles quite a lot and tip the market towards table radios. Some of the better tombstone and cathedral radios were almost as sophisticated as a console but they will seldom have as large a speaker. One of my collection is a little console which appears to have been made by one of the better Canadian manufacturers specifically for apartment dwellers - but it is basically an AA5 with a larger speaker. It still sounds reasonably good though.
• There are a few rare and valuable consoles which were made for very rich people. Manufacturers like EH Scott or McMurdo - Silver made very sophisticated products largely by hand. These will command very high prices if you can find one. In addition, mass manufacturers usually produced a very high priced range which would also be quite valuable. RCA produced a console using push - pull parallel 2A3 triodes for the output stage which would probably have outstanding sound quality if you could find one. The problems with regular consoles are even more extreme with these luxury units (EH Scott produced a masterpiece in three large cabinets which used 48 tubes delivering 100 watts of power in 1935) but since they are so rare and of such high quality they will still be very valuable. Just don't try to fit a Scott Quantara into your studio condominium.

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