Collect and Preserve Them before They’re Gone

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.