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Old 31st Jul 2017, 9:43 pm   #41
Paul_RK
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Join Date: Nov 2003
Location: Fakenham, Norfolk, UK.
Posts: 4,246
Default Re: Mystery vintage electric fire/hotplate. Identified as a Magnet (GEC) D2400.

I really don't mind when it's from either! I confess surprise about the Osglim lamp, but admit to having no knowledge of just when they ceased production. The detail of the switch escutcheon isn't visible at all on the catalogue image, and my immediate response to seeing it was that its font and style are completely out of keeping with anything I've seen on an appliance from the 1930s: likewise the overall colour scheme. I've taken more of an interest than has been good for me in such electrical appliances from the earliest to the 1960s as have crossed my path since that interest began, in about 1968. Cream as a colour for cookers etc. was at the height of its popularity in the 1950s, but pretty much unknown as their dominant colour in the '30s: I can't think where you can have gained the contrary impression you relate. The catalogue illustration looks decidedly dark to me.

As regards GEC's policy, leaving a niche item in a fairly constant form for years made very good economic sense, as I thought I was illustrating by referring to Belling. If an item like this were selling, say, 20000 a year, and had various competitors in its place in the market, a thorough redesign every year or two might well be justified. If it was selling a couple of hundred a year and had no obvious competitors, but was turning a little profit, while the colour scheme might be changed at little or no cost in a modest attempt to keep up with the times there would be no motive for investing capital in redesigning the castings. Then, if not so much now, a large company didn't necessarily look to large production runs to justify continued manufacture of an item. Electric fire catalogues show, often, dozens of current models from a manufacturer - steady, slow sellers, many of them, hardly changing from one decade to the next because the capital investment in casting moulds, once made, paid dividends for years thereafter.

Last edited by Paul_RK; 31st Jul 2017 at 10:08 pm.
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