Marconi 1936 prototype

[BusyBee]

I know this set and in fact I was after buying it sometime in the early 2000s.   I lost out because somebody else paid more  than I was willing to pay for it.

The ebay vendor wrote:     " bought the set from the English gentleman (I can no longer remember his name) who was also an expert in WWII cypher encryption equipment.  He boxed the set up in 2 wooden boxes: 1 for the set and one (at my insistence) for the picture tube"

Here apologies as I am probably preaching to the converted but:

I don't know anything about this, or much about TV's in general, but one thing I would state with anything old is that provenance is key. To take the word of someone, no matter how plausible, in the artworld or even antique is a bad move. Such statements, although useful for further investigation, should be treated with great caution.

Tracy

[peter scott]

Dennis Yates was a dealer but I'm sure we can believe any information supplied by the person who Dennis bought it from. I have yet to check with that person about the "Marconi" sales manager story. The Marconi bit raises suspicion that it should be EMI rather than Marconi. The fact that the valves are labelled Marconi is of course totally irrelevant as those in an HMV set would equally be so labelled.

Peter

[ppppenguin]

Not sure we can believe Dennis Yates either. While the stuff he sold was usually very much as described I would hesitate to place too much faith in any back stories. DY's criminal episode with the Enigma machine showed he was capable of telling a good story.

I wonder what this set was a prototype for? The 901/702 12" sets were launched for the start of the service in 1936 so a 9" mirror lid in 1937 was hardly cutting edge.

[Geordie McBoyne]

The circuits in the set being discussed are very similar to those in the Marconi 704 and HMV 903. These are 9" CRT direct view console receivers. Both models were released in 1937. Very early production 903 and 704 receivers were fitted with an Emiscope green phosphor CRT, possibly type 6/1. The sets were intended to be marketed as what we'd call today entry level models.
Perhaps EMI decided not to put the small CRT mirror view set into full production because it was too similar to the 12" CRT Marconi 702 and HMV 901 models.

Geordie McBoyne.

[tubesrule]

This is all great information about the set. I'm expecting it won't sell at this price, but you never know.