TV Collectors look away....

[slidertogrid]

This happened today on the TV programme aptly named "The Tool Club"
Death of a rather nice Philips. I wonder how long before the bottom rots out?

[Restoration73]

I thought the one where they poured resin all over the Dynatron music centre on
"Find it, F*** it, Flog it" was the pits, but this takes the biscuit.

I wonder if they used "organic" LEDS ?

[FERNSEH]

That was once an amazingly compact dual standard Philips TV set.
Here's another horror! Found this picture on the net.
Well at least I did save the Pye FV1 from a similar fate.

DFWB.

[simpsons]

Pure sacrilege and reminds me of Robert "Barry" Bucknell who is credited with destroying so much that today houses with the original fireplace etc etc; are sought after.

Barry was educated and ironically worked for Daimler before joining his Dad's builders merchants.

I would like to think someone could contact Channel 4 before the so called experts do more damage.

Chris

[emeritus]

It's been going on for years. In the late 1960's I remember seeing a photo on thr "Railway Modeller" of a scenic "N" gauge railway that someone had built in an old console TV cabinet. No-one was interested in old TVs then. My late father turned several into bedside cabinets in the 1950's, usually covered with "Fablon"!

[Ted Kendall]

Originally Posted by simpsons

I would like to think someone could contact Channel 4 before the so called experts do more damage.

As if they, or any broadcaster, would give a monkey's! If it's legal and brings in the punters, job done. These are things, not people or animals. To be clear, I don't approve of it, but then I don't approve of 90% of the stuff broadcast these days. Thank for the Off switch.

[stevehertz]

I don't get hot under the collar about such modifications to common sets. There are much more important things going on in the world at the moment involving the mistreatment of humans and animals, not massed produced inanimate objects. We're not going to suffer for the well intentioned repurposing of a relatively few common TVs and radios. I mean, let's introduce a sense of perspective here, what about all the countless thousands (millions?) that have been taken to the tip for decades and still are now?! Surely getting some use out of them is better than them being buried? Or is it just that we don't like people 'doing what they enjoy' because it doesn't align with our own ideas? If true, that would be narrow minded. As restorers we often have to be creative. There are many ways to be creative, we're all different.

[simpsons]

Steve, you are quite right.

I guess many people, myself included, see so much happening that is out of our hands and which we may not like, that our only outlet is to vent our spleen on a TV program .

I did search the web for quite some time to find the Philips TV in question as I don't remember seeing the "Twin Line" version but to no avail.

I hasten to add, not to make it into a fish tank!!

Chris

[Craig Sawyers]

It is a bit like people turning AVO8's into steam punk artefacts. I guess it is less of a problem because there are so many of them out there.

Or the movie props company I found who supply "lightweight" Racal RA17's. Basically gutted, and half the depth. But with scale illumination lamps still in place, and tuning knobs and scale that work. So as far as the movie goer is concerned, they look right.

Craig

[Colourstar]

Whilst I agree that it's not the most important thing going on in the world, I wouldn't class sets like that as exactly 'common' these days- that one is sixty years old and a rare survivor in good condition.

I think its only natural for anyone whose hobby is related to preservation to feel a touch of sadness at seeing something eminently restorable being ruined.

Just my thoughts!

Steve

[Philips210]

Originally Posted by Colourstar

Whilst I agree that it's not the most important thing going on in the world, I wouldn't class sets like that as exactly 'common' these days- that one is sixty years old and a rare survivor in good condition.

I think its only natural for anyone whose hobby is related to preservation to feel a touch of sadness at seeing something eminently restorable being ruined.

Just my thoughts!

Steve

That's exactly what I thought. I can see both sides of the debate but the key thing here is there can't be many of that particular model in existence. It is a great shame to break up that set for some repurposing project. To think it's survived for sixty years and then it meets that treatment.

Regards,
Symon

[alfatangowhisky]

Philips 9156 (thanks VRAT)

[Craig Sawyers]

67gns - this was a pricing trick using the long obsolete (in 1814) currency of a Guinea, equal to £1:1s . So 67 gns was in fact £70:7s . Surprisingly frequently used back in the 60's to fool customers. A Guinea was 5% more than a pound.

All sorts of horrid tricks were used back in the day. When those fiber optic things were in vogue - you remember the half sphere of fibers with a light source under them. I still recall one advert proudly announcing that the "scintillating display" was 8 inches in circumference - so actually only around 2.5 inches in diameter. Imagine the disappointment for the poor punter when the thing arrived.

Craig

[Welsh Anorak]

An auction I went to used to say as bidding slowed "Guineas then!" meaning your next bid after, say £10 was £10.50. This was around 1980, many years after decimalisation, so goodness knows what bidders made of it! I doubt the girls in the office liked it either...

I suppose any of us who've been in the trade will remember throwing perfectly restorable sets into the skip because they were too old or just unwanted. Time was the only thing I'd salvage from a G8 or G11 were the fuses! Mind you they were over ten years old then.

In the case of the unfortunate TV above the legs would probably fetch more than the set. You could argue an end like this is better than being chucked into the 'recycling' skip.

[Restoration73]

I will always investigate whether a CRT or LOPT is worth salvaging.

[The Philpott]

A few of these hollowed out televisions have featured. You can't buy good taste, and it seems to me if a respect for industrial heritage isn't present through nurture or nature, then it's not going to blossom later in life. You would of course see steam from the ears if someone discovered they had just Jenny Hanivered a TV that was worth a lot of money.

Dave

[Tim]

These old items of any type might not be rare at the moment, but once loads of people start hunting for them to turn into lamps of fish tanks or whatever for “ easy” money and the dreaded fashion, then not only will the prices for those of us who actually prefer the said items un-molested/vandalised/upcycled( ruined forever or whatever you call it) increase, but these old things will then become rare! Well, un-vandalised ones anyway. When this crazy trend is over, and it is no longer” in” to have a lamp made from an old AVO or whatever, then the now ruined items will then be worth nothing to the people who had them, and less to enthusiasts.
A dangerous trend IMHO

There can’t be too many of those about?
No, it’s the last one in existence.
Shame it got turned into a lamp then

I can just imagine the antique dealers of the future cursing previous generations.

[G6Tanuki]

There's a counterbalancing theory that says reducing the number of a given thing in existence will raise the value of those that remain.

Supply vs Demand. I don't see much of a demand for old tellies/radiograms - as reflected in how many of them get offered FOC on various social-media/community forums but which have zero takeup.

"Antiques" are only valuable because there is a limited supply. If there were millions of Mona Lisas or Venus de Milos out there, they'd be essentially worthless.

[music-centre]

Always seems a shame to me when sets are wrecked like this nowadays, not the same as dumping them at 10 years old or whatever at the end of their practical working life, there can't be so many of a particular model still about.

I would think that the daft things that they get turned into will soon be heading for the skip when the novelty wears off as well.

Steve.

[slidertogrid]

Exactly! Steve has summed it up a treat.
We all scrapped old tellies when they were just old tellies. Classics were banger raced when they were just old bangers. Things that are highly desirable and worth a lot of money now were chucked away as worthless obsolete junk once. Look at the price of some tin plate toys.

But what I think is a shame is that when something that a collector would prize, cherish and probably get working is destroyed and turned into a naff tacky thing that will no doubt be binned. I mean, where are you going to put an old telly case full of plants? In your house? Then what when it rots - stinks and spills soil on the carpet? In the garden?

To answer the comments that say it's no big deal, I agree, it's not a global disaster by any means it's just "stuff". Not on the scale of a war or a murder or pensioners freezing because they cannot afford the gas bill. But IMHO it is a shame!