Old unidentified radiogram.

[Michael Maurice]

I received an email with pictures regarding this elderly radiogram.


It looks in nice condition. The lady is clearing out her mothers flat and would like to know how old it is and if its worth anything?

[Michael Maurice]

And some more pictures:

[kalee20]

RGD on the loudspeaker, so presumably a RGD (Radio-Gram Developments) radiogram!

Pre-war judging from valves and turntable.

A nice piece of furniture rather spoiled by the tuning dial - it's not even central - almost as though the cabinet was designed and built, and then someone thought, "Oops! We forgot the tuning scale! Quick, get a keyhole saw and make a cut-out - oblong will do, no need to follow the fretwork - anywhere on the front. We'll tweak the chassis layout to suit." And then drilled the holes for the knobs, similarly off-central.

Value whatever anyone would pay for it. The front appearance is spoiled for me, else I'd be happy to shell out £50.

[barrymagrec]

Looks almost as if there was an optional 30s style square matching clock to go on the right.

[Mike Phelan]

Apart from the speaker, I wouldn't have thought it was RGD - didn't look 'up-market' enough.

[Cobaltblue]

Think thats been well got at.

The speaker fret look like the EKCO trees as seen on the RS3 and the SH25.

There you go a butchered RG23

https://www.radiomuseum.org/r/ekco_a...iver_rg23.html

Cheers

Mike T

[snowman_al]

My guess it is a 'marriage'.
The cabinet is well made and the turntable is Columbia, maybe they started life together?

But then
The speaker is RGD (Radio Gramophone Development Co).
The speaker fret is typical Ekco 'trees'.

The radio chassis looks propitiatory, but the power supply / audio section looks home made... as does the cabinet work for the dial and controls.

Anything on the dial?

Yep started life as an Ekco. Spot on Colbaltblue.

[Michael Maurice]

So probably not worth anything or very very little

[Cobaltblue]

Probably not much interest to a 30's collector unless they are desperate for an example of this model since it will be quite a job to restore it back to original.

That said it's a lovely cabinet and with a more sympathetic rendering of the radio side it would probably be good to go for adding bluetooth and DAB.

One of the specialists in these conversions may well be interested.

IMHO its stick it on an auction site and cross your fingers

Cheers

Mike T

[Boater Sam]

Bit of a monstrosity now. Shame because the Ekco was a pretty 'gram.

[crackle]

I agree, new upper panel fitted and cut out for a replacement chassis.

Mike

[kalee20]

Yep. I'd keep my £50.

[Radio Wrangler]

If there's anyone around with a wormy Ekco?

David

[Techman]

That modification is exactly the sort of thing that I'd have done (and did) when I was a teenager back in the day!

The radio tuner and amplifier with power supply look like a late 40s kit setup. The original early 30s TRF radio with performance probably not much better than a crystal set (perhaps a slight exaggeration) and apparently some sort of disconnecting of wires between radio and gram operation, must have been rather a performance to use compared with other sets of the late forties. It must have been a real revelation when the original owner fitted that 'superhet' setup - I bet he felt well chuffed! Now years later we're saying look what some idiot did in spoiling that lovely old radiogram!

I note that even the turntable has been replaced with one from the 40s. Look at the dust on that motor governor - that hasn't had use for many decades. Someone, somewhere with a rotten, worm-eaten example would be very pleased to find that cabinet - the problem is in finding that someone.

So yes, not worth very much, but certainly shouldn't be dumped.

[turretslug]

That tuning gang says "R1155" to me, and its rear bracket looks a little bespoke too. Perhaps this distinctive gang with its 2 narrow- and 1 wide-spaced section replaced a damaged original, possibly with a section unused (just one valve adjacent to it, maybe a FC-input chassis with no RF stage)?

[Techman]

We don't know, but it's possible that the chap that modified it never actually got it working as a radio and perhaps just used the gramophone part. Looking again at the chassis, there doesn't seem to be a lot in the way of 'IF' stages, so could still be another TRF ?

[Techman]

Looking yet again - there's another square can (I think) right at the back (front) of the chassis, so it could be a 'superhet' as I originally thought. It's worth saving just for the interest of it - the question is, what would you do with it after the initial 'play around' and the initial interest in its story has worn off?

[Michael Maurice]

Someone has taken an interest in it so lets see how we progress.

[Cobaltblue]

The original chassis in this set is probably similar / same as the M23 which has a bakelite cabinet so not a woodworm candidate

The gram is going to be pretty rare in original condition.

And yes chassis pushed info the case was probably far superior to this early set.

Not that that's any consolation now

I dont really collect Ekco although I have an RS2 M23 and SH25 as well as 20 or so other pre war Ekco sets so I do have a soft spot for them

Cheers

Mike T

[Cobaltblue]

Originally Posted by Michael Maurice

Someone has taken an interest in it so lets see how we progress.

That is good news it's a lovely cabinet

Cheers

Mike T