GE H-503 Thumbdial RadioThis is a GE model H-503 walnut radio that dates to 1939. It is a 5 tube superhet that does pretty decent for selectivity and reception. It came in various cases, most of which were molded plastic or bakelite. This is one of the few wooden examples I've seen, though the streamline nature of the plastic sets makes them more collectible.
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Ebay Picture
This is the listing picture from Ebay. It doesn't reveal much about the the radio, but based on this picture, I thought I was getting a nice original radio that perhaps had the wrong knob. |
Radio upon arrival
This is the condition in which the radio arrived due to poor packing, rough handling and the absence of any chassis screws. In addition, inspection revealed: The radio had been refinished after having been painted a pale green (with paint on the grill cloth as a bonus); Damage to the speaker; poor recapping job at some point in the past; damage to the dial scale from the pilot lamp being too close; an alligatored finish; a small missing piece of wood; a missing back; and damaged loop antenna cardboard. In addition, I believe that it has the wrong chassis as the dial is made of beetle plastic and the two rectangular wooden blocks in the picture are spacers to hold the chassis at the right height. I am almost certain that this chassis comes from one of the several plastic versions of this radio, probably the white and brown beetle plastic version. If not, it sure doesn't fit in the case very well. I still don't have the right knob, but it looks a bit better than the one came that came with it.
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Radio upon arrival
This is an ad showing the GE model line and the bakelite version of this radio. Notice that the ad has the tombstone earmarked for boys going to college. I guess GE's ad agency wasn't much at forward thinking.
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