This is topic Old Sears Silvertone Radio in forum Film-Yak at Film-Tech Forum ARCHIVE.
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Posted by Evans A Criswell (Member # 381) on 12-10-2001, 01:53 PM:
Since some people here are knowledgeable concerning old projection equipment, I figure someone here might can help me, or direct me to a good information source concerning the following:My parents have an old Sears Silvertone console radio that is approximately 4 feet high and 2 feet wide. It is an AM radio (top third) with a drawer in the middle third of the cabinet that contains a turntable (78 RPM only). The bottom third of the radio is the cloth-covered area where the speaker is. The only number I saw on the radio is on the back of the radio part (where the tubes are) that has "Chassis number 101-660-1A".
I'd really like to know when this radio was manufactured. We aquired it in 1972 (when they bought the house we lived in in Cherokee County, AL) and we've never had to change a tube in it and it still plays, and has been an excellent AM radio. Knowing the manufacture date and how much the thing might be worth would be interesting. I grew up listening to that radio every morning when I lived with my parents.
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Evans A Criswell
Huntsville-Decatur Movie Theatre Information Site
Posted by John Pytlak (Member # 331) on 12-10-2001, 02:33 PM:
Some links:
http://www.radiomania.com/radiomania.com/pages/consoles.html
http://www.justradios.com/
http://www.radioblvd.com/photos.html When I moved to Rochester in 1970, I had several console radios from the 1930's that I had repaired into good working order. Since I didn't have room in my apartment for them, my parents got rid of them all. Wonder what they would be worth today? 
I even had one of the unique two-piece Philco Predicta television sets and a Sylvania "Halolight" TV sent to the trash heap:
http://www.tvhistory.tv/1950-1959.htm
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John P. Pytlak, Senior Technical Specialist
Worldwide Technical Services, Entertainment Imaging
Research Labs, Building 69, Room 7525A
Rochester, New York, 14650-1922 USA
Tel: 716-477-5325 Cell: 716-781-4036 Fax: 716-722-7243
E-Mail: john.pytlak@kodak.com
Web site: http://www.kodak.com/go/motion
Posted by Evans A Criswell (Member # 381) on 12-10-2001, 03:12 PM:
Thanks, John, for the links. I emailed one guy the information at one of the sites. Spending $30 to order a book that may or may not tell me when it was manufactured seems a bit pricey, so hopefully someone with a book will look it up for me. I had already tried searching for the chassis number on WWW search engines with no luck, and none of the pictures I've found so far have matched it.I really like old stuff like that, especially in working order!
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Evans A Criswell
Huntsville-Decatur Movie Theatre Information Site
Posted by Paul G. Thompson (Member # 655) on 12-10-2001, 07:57 PM:
Evans, hold on to that radio, or any old floor model unit. Those are getting to be worth something these days - especially to collectors. I had an old Atwater-Kent TRF receiver, but I donated to a restaurant where it is now on display. I have been told it is worth about $450.00. Seems kind of high, but one never knows.... In the back seat of my car, I have the chassis of an old Zenith floor model that goes back to 1938. I plan on getting that thing working. Unfortunately, I don't have the cabnet for it. 
But the price was right - haul if off... 
Posted by Ken Layton (Member # 133) on 12-10-2001, 11:18 PM:
Evans:The service manual for that radio was printed in May of 1949. It is available for purchase from Howard W. Sams Company (www.photofact.com). The manual number is Photofact 6-29. Their online search for manuals requires you enter the model number with no dashes or spaces.
Posted by Evans A Criswell (Member # 381) on 12-11-2001, 10:00 AM:
So that means the radio is older than 1949. I figure it was bought around 1946, but it could be older. Last night at Barnes and Noble, I found a couple of books on antique radios, but the numbers listed for Silvertones are not the chassis numbers, but are other numbers that the radios are known by. The next time I'm at my parents house, I'll have to search the radio to see if another number is on it somewhere. It's a shame that manufacturing dates weren't put on hardly anything back then.
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Evans A Criswell
Huntsville-Decatur Movie Theatre Information Site
Posted by John Schulien (Member # 215) on 12-11-2001, 11:45 AM:
Sometimes you can find a date stamped onto some of the components -- most likely large capacitors or original tubes.
Posted by Bruce McGee (Member # 131) on 12-11-2001, 01:26 PM:
Evans:Most Sears stuff has a model number that goes like this:
528.XXXXXXX.
The 3 numbers before the period are the manufacturer source number.
528 used to be Wells-Gardener, but since they are gone, it is now a generic source number for many TV parts that the poor Sears techs have to use.
Good Luck!
PS: has it got a green tuning eye?
(Ken Layton tells me that Wells-Gardener is still in business as of 12/12/01)
Posted by Evans A Criswell (Member # 381) on 12-11-2001, 01:42 PM:
I got an email back from one person I asked and it's a 1946 model. The price range for that particular model (being a post-war radio and phono combo) is $50 to $150. For some reason, the post-war radio and phono combos are not as much in demand and aren't worth as much as other old radios. This is the first time my parents and I have known the true age of this radio, which we believe to have all the original tubes. We've never changed a tube since 1972, and the radio still plays well.
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Evans A Criswell
Huntsville-Decatur Movie Theatre Information Site
Posted by System Notices (Member # 2357) on 02-17-2017, 10:24 AM:
It has been 5546 days since the last post.
Posted by Evans A Criswell (Member # 381) on 02-17-2017, 10:24 AM:
The old amazing Sears Silvertone radio I began this thread discussing (in 2001!) is still alive and well, still playing, and will turn 71 years old at some point this year.
Posted by Harold Hallikainen (Member # 5405) on 02-17-2017, 12:56 PM:
There are old radio organizations all over the place. I'm a member of the California Historical Radio Society ( http://www.californiahistoricalradio.com/ ) and the Maritime Radio Historical Society ( http://www.radiomarine.org/ ).
Harold