The parallels between old pottery
and old electronics might take some explaining.
We’ve had pottery for thousands of years. It became essential to our way of life and
proliferated around the world. When it became
old and broken it was discarded and replaced with new pottery, possibly of
superior design or function. But, as
time went by, the previously cast off yet rare, historic, or beautiful old
pottery became appreciated and desirable.
Unfortunately, not much survived.
Electronics seems to be taking the
same route. True, electronics haven’t been
around for thousands of years, but electronic devices have become essential to
our current way of life. And old
electronics, it seems, is following the same pattern as old pottery. No
matter how great the electronic device is, when it becomes old or broken, it’s
discarded.
In the bygone days we used to send worn
out or obsolete electronics to the third world.
So, the old and broken radios, TV sets, and computers would just
“disappear”. Nobody wanted them,
probably not even residents of the third world.
Technology has moved at a fantastic
rate. Beginning with the radios, TV sets,
and computers a few years ago, we now have literally an indescribable list of
electronic devices. Probably the most in
number are the portable devices.
With the current proliferation of portable
smart phones, digital cameras, pads, and laptops, the electronic residue is
being carried to the far corners of the earth.
It’s hard to imagine life without world contact, information, and
entertainment anytime anywhere with just a single portable electronic
device. Yes, hard to imagine and almost
as hard to imagine how and when it all started.
Many history books mention the invention of telephone and radio, but
seldom trace the details or describe the impact on society.
Most people know that all
electronics can be traced to the invention of radio. Radio matured during the 1920s. By 1950 radio was being eclipsed by
television. Many radios from the
earliest period (1920 to 1930) are recognized as rare and collectible. Not many were made back then and few have
survived the ravages of time. So, what’s
left is preserved and collected by museums and serious collectors. But, there are a number of radio types that
were rare at the time and are almost extinct today. Many of those were not too popular and not
recognized at the time as being historically significant. After all, that history hadn’t happened yet!
The very early portable radios such as
the RCA Radiola 24 and 26 fit that description.
Today, even those portable radios are sought after by collectors. Few were made (expensive at the time) and few
survived (portables took a beating!).
Consequently, today the RCA 24 and 26 are very expensive, that is if you
can find them.
The portable radio never caught on
during the 1920s, or the 1930s. Besides
being expensive, most were heavy, batteries didn’t last long, and the
performance was not too good. It wasn’t
until some technological improvements in tubes and batteries made portables
both practical and affordable. In 1939
the first of the “second generation” portable hit the market just in time for
the lead in to WWII.
The 1939 Philco “Little Pal” started the portable radio renaissance. It was the first commercial portable capable
of being played while being carried.
Despite this, these early “suit case” portables are not recognized by
the collecting community.
The war curtailed all radio
production in 1942 (except military radios).
Compared to plug-in radios, portable radios were not made in great
numbers before the war. The battery
shortage caused by the war, resulted in most portables being put in storage for
the duration. Few portable owners knew
the dangers of damage to the radio caused by old leaky batteries. Many stored portable radios were destroyed and
many more were discarded to be replaced by new post war sets of better
design. So, few survive.
The prewar portables are very rare
today. They are historically
significant. All our well loved portable
devices owe their existence to the idea of a portable radio. A few prewar portable radios show up from
time-to-time on eBay, at flea markets, and at antique shows. So, please collect and preserve them before
they are gone.
