Murphy A124 Side Finish

[mintras]

I am a little baffled by the finish of the A124. I have a couple of these and one has white painted sides, and the other is a light veneer to compliment the mahogany finish of the centre.

I had assumed that the white paint was a later addition, until I saw a close up picture of another unit on the auction site.

This also had the white paint finish.

Is this a change in the design during production?

[murphymad]

The Murphy A124 Table receiver was originally released in July 1948.
This incarnation used end pieces that were painted in a cream colour and over lacquered.
The main front was Mahogany of a straight grain.
At that time, painted effects were used to blend with other houshold decor and to make the front main feature seem more prominent.
This also made for a less expensive receiver and made the manufacture much simpler by making the end pieces seperately and then putting everything together after the cabinet finishes had been applied.

Later production models were given veneered end pieces rather than painted. This brought the 124 in line with the 128 production sets using Gold Avodire veneer and probably made some sort of production saving.
It may also of extended the production life of the 124 models where customers saw the painted ends as cheap.

Despite the cabinets, the internals of the 124 were a marked step forward for Murphy production techniques and would have been a real cash cow at the time.

The painted sets seem to survive quite well if they are not stored in the damp, but the veneered ended sets are very often missing bits of chipped veneer and look tatty.

It is a pretty little set, of the Baffle format that performs much better than would be expected of a set from 1948 at that price.

Mike...

[Stuart R]

"I am a little baffled by the finish of the A124"