Who is buying vintage TVs?
 

As the title says - but more specifically on eBay.

Anything with woodgrain (real or simulated) or valves seems to be selling very well.

I've seen run-of-the-mill 1980s plastic faux-wood lumps sell for £100+ and very tatty valve based sets for not inconsiderable sums.

Are these really appreciating in value that much? Are people hoarding them? Is there a sudden need for these sets as 'props'?

I have also seen people *trying* to get £300+ for a Ferguson Courier and others trying for £100+ for similar B&W portable sets.

This astounded me somewhat as I am trying to get a reasonably priced (hybrid would be fine) portable set for my kitchen so keep a watch on what is floating about. I just don't get it, as often they are not restored and would be quite a challenge to 'average joe' unless they had the right skills.


Your thoughts please...

Re: Who is buying vintage TVs?
 

What the set is will determine interest amongst collectors an early Colour set will always be sought after. Dual standard sets are few and far between .
Location will have a bearing on the price of more common sets.
There have been a few that I would have liked but were much too far away to go for.
I wanted a Murphy Acoustic de - luxe for a long time but they were always miles away and sometimes went for more than I could afford. I got an incomplete set for a very reasonable price in the end but I still had to brave a 250 mile round trip to fetch it.
Prices are rising though dual standard mono sets are now on average double what they were making a few years back.
The vintage video game enthusiasts seem to be buying a lot of the 1980s sets especially certain makes and models. Again depending on location prices can go a bit high.
I have a contact who is involved with house clearance he turns up with the odd gem from time to time but recently arrived with a 1980s Salora set . I explained that it was too recent for my collection and suggested he put it on ebay as it worked very well and looked very little used.
He had a fair bit of interest and was delighted with what it made.

Some sets definitely go for props. A buyer for the Netflix series The Crown bought a fair few sets from me a while back. I also know they also bought a few on ebay. This the buyer told me was cheaper than hiring props.

What is popular and demands high prices varies as the years pass . Grandfather clocks don't make anywhere near what they used to apparently. Record players don't make as much as they used to, this has probably got something to do with the retro ones that seem to be available everywhere now...
What I find surprising is the prices crystal sets continue to achieve I would think that most people that remember them being current are either departed or very elderly. usually when this happens prices fall. Some Gramophones and cylinder players seem to have dropped in price in real terms since the 1970s/80s?
At least the later 1980s / 90s TV sets are now being saved! For the last 20 years the scrapping and dumping rate must have been huge!
Maybe it's time to fill the loft!

Re: Who is buying vintage TVs?
 

Been saving those for the last 20 years!! The loft at my old house was full of them, they mostly reside in a storage lock up now. Maybe it’s time I moved them on whilst they are popular!

Regards
Lloyd

Re: Who is buying vintage TVs?
 

I've noticed that the prices of quirky b/w portables has rocketed recently especially the tv/radio/cassette style ones .

Re: Who is buying vintage TVs?
 

To me, someone who collected pre and just post war sets in the 70s and 80s, the genre 'vintage tv' has morphed to include, I dunno, dual standard colour sets and even later ones. That to me isn't a 'vintage TV' as was collected by enthusiasts back when I was at it. I'm not saying that collecting later sets is not valid, just making a point about 'vintage TVs'.

Re: Who is buying vintage TVs?
 

I've noticed that some portables combined with a radio & tape recorder seem to be popular with Ghetto Blaster collectors.

Prices for 1980s portables seem to vary, & when I've sold one some from my collection they have either gone quickly or been near impossible to shift when I've listed them at a reasonable starting price.

Re: Who is buying vintage TVs?
 

What is Vintage?
In 1970 the oldest commercial TV would be around 35 years old, a dual standard CTV could be 53 years old now, dual standard BW TV’s could be 56 or more years old.

Re: Who is buying vintage TVs?
 

I have 3 or 4 in my shed and am thinking the same ;)

Re: Who is buying vintage TVs?
 

Makes you wonder what domestic audio and video items will become collectable in the future? Cheap (£30 new) Chinese DVD players, all in one mini stereos, small cassette radios, etc etc. Who am I to judge?!

Re: Who is buying vintage TVs?
 

I have been watching the prices go up and up as I am on the look out for another set. Some have been offered by generous folks on this forum, but too far away. Ebay is too expensive...…..

Am I the only one who has to have a look in every skip just in case?

I have been looking for one of those 12" B&W sets with the single rotary tuner from the 80's / early 90's. I don't know why I cant find one, every house had 3 or 4 of them not so long ago. Every kitchen and conservatory had one, and most kids bedrooms also.

I think you could buy them from Boots for about 3 quid at the time.

Re: Who is buying vintage TVs?
 

When wine is bottled.
The term originally was used otherwise in the 1930's and applied to vehicles made before 1930.
Now, the adjective seems to be used for virtually anything now if the seller thinks it will get a better price.

Re: Who is buying vintage TVs?
 

We classify all CRT sets as vintage here.

Re: Who is buying vintage TVs?
 

So did you class a post war set as vintage in the 1970s? If so by your own definition a set is vintage at 25 years or older....My Dual standard Invicta is now over twice that...

:thumbsup:

Re: Who is buying vintage TVs?
 

It must depend on how scarce, desirable and obsolete an item is. Computer stuff must be getting there after 10 years. Or computer games etc. When something has a value again after first losing it, perhaps.

Re: Who is buying vintage TVs?
 

My own collection has expanded to 76 TVs now and includes sets as old as a 1953 Pye V4, a number of 1960s and very early 1970s dual standard monochrome sets, 1970s portable monochrome, e.g. Thorn 1590s, Bush Rangers, 1970s and 1980s colour sets. I sometimes wonder whether I ought to test the market with those that I have more than one example of, given the prices featured on Ebay. As it happens, I haven't a single set that I paid more than £40 for. I never imagined that the market would evolve as it has done. It seems to be following a similar pattern to the classic car market.

Re: Who is buying vintage TVs?
 

The word "Vintage" has probably been over used by the likes of sellers on ebay etc etc.

Most people refer to vintage as something they remember from their childhood or something very old.

If you collect television sets from the 1960's or 70's then I think you are quite within your rights to say you collect vintage televisions. We're talking 50 years plus.

That in my book is vintage!

Re: Who is buying vintage TVs?
 

We can pontificate about definitions, times and timescales, but at the end of the day, a big 70s TV set is a far cry from a dinky, single channel, wooden cabineted, 9" set from the early 50s. 'Ner the twain shall meet. So, being as you ask the question, my own definition - not that my definition means anything! - is that vintage TVs embrace from the pre war period to - let's say the early 50s. Beyond that, sets became very much of a likeness and lost the charm of true, pre and post war TVs. I say that anyone who enjoys collecting and restoring 60s and 70s (and 80s!) TV sets, enjoys a 'different' hobby. No-one is right, no-one is wrong. But me personally, I wouldn't call (for example) a dual standard TV a 'vintage TV'. There's obvious parallels with vintage radio sets.

Re: Who is buying vintage TVs?
 

That's rather disturbing if the sets just get dumped at the end of the shoot.
Graham

Re: Who is buying vintage TVs?
 

Here's something that I felt I had to take a snap off the screen
Attachment 198487
Its an episode of "Bergerac", "A Desirable Little Residence" first shown on 24 Jan. 1987, but that set would have been over 35 years old. The plot did mandate that things in the house were old, but I think they went a little too far with that TV.

Oh, and there's the small point that 405 line TV ended two years earlier.

Re: Who is buying vintage TVs?
 

Computer games and consoles pre Xbox era are rocketing in prices , along with older computers .