[PaulM]

A value is very difficult to advise - it's what <<somebody>> is prepared to pay and that is very hard to predict in this case. It probably comes under the heading of 'priceless' simply because nobody knows.

It's really so rare, so valuable (in the non-monetary sense) and so important! If It did come up for sale, it would be nice to think that it would go to a bona-fide museum. The UK Science Museum now has 'custody' of all the known ones (so far as I know), so possibly another important body such as the Bodleian Library? They have custody of many important things such as the Marconi Archive and it would be a great 'home'. Another possibility is the BFI, but that's debateable. Neither EMI or Marconi (the other half of Marconi-EMI) still exists and the BBC has off-loaded its physical heritage back to the Science Museum, so no possibilities there.

The Emitron is, of course, a member of the iconoscope class of camera tube. Based on the RCA patents, quite a few were actually being built around the world (Italy, Japan, Holland, Germany and USSR), but it's still a very significant survivor.

Having built a working (image) iconoscope camera and having 'custody' of several of these later types of this class of tube, I know the dilemma of whether a private collector should really have them or a reputable, real museum. Tricky, that one.

At the end of the day, it's for the owner to decide its destiny - keep/sell/donate - and that's just how it should be. If there's family connections, 'keep' looks attractive (well, it would be for me).

Just my thoughts!

Best regards,

Paul M

PS James - I did ship an RCA iconoscope from the USA and it did survive! These were much, much more common than UK manufactured versions. One day I will power it . . .