1949 Zenith "Porthole" TV

Post this query over at news:rec.antiques.radio+phono. Lots of antique television collectors there.

Zenith "porthole" TVs are very collectible and in demand. It's definitely worth saving. A nice fully restored porthole is worth hundreds of dollars. I'd expect yours to be worth at least $100 as long as its original and complete... regardless of cabinet or finish damage. You'd be surprised what can be done to a cabinet by someone who knows restoration work. Definitely don't set it out for the trash or haul it to the landfill.

One alternative I've seen where the original cabinet is in such sad shape is to clean up all the guts and mount them inside an acrylic case for show. There are plenty of people out there who admire the glowing tubes and funky-shaped CRT's of yesteryear. You'd probably get more ca$h for it this way than if you tried to sell it as a "restored" antique, considering so much of the wood cabinet wouldn't be original. Certainly the cost involved in fabricating your own acrylic case would be far less than hiring a professional antique restorer to do the woodwork.

A set in that condition is junk . The tubes are common wortless tubes . Your only hope at all is if the pot metal face parts are still in good condition . Sometimes people need knobs , the curved glass or the small door cover .

Take a visit to the link below. You may want to get in touch with the person running the site. Your set would be a very nice collector item, but it would have to be properly restored. It would involve a lot of work. There will be many parts that will have to be changed. The cost of a proper restoration can be on the expensive side. It is the question of how badly you want to restore the set.

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JANA _____

I've just acquired a Zenith "porthole" TV manufactured around 1949. Model Number 28T925, Chassis Number 28F20/21/22

I would like to know if this chassis is worth money to a serious collector. The TV is in TERRIBLE shape. It doesn't look like it's ever been restored in any way. It appears to have all of its tubes, and the chassis appears to be intact. The CRT appears to not be broken.

Now the bad news, and there's lots of it:

The set appears to have been stored in a very wet place, or to have gone through a recent flood. The cabinet is not salvageable. It is wet, falling apart, and missing lots of wood. The chassis has rust on many parts. There is a coating on the back of the CRT that appears to be cracking and flaking off.

From the few posts I've found on a few forums, the set is a bitch to work on with every cap needing replacement, wirewound resistors out of spec, and more.

I don't think I want to restore the set. I'd rather sell it if it has some value.

What I'm looking for is any info that will help this awesome piece of history not end up in a landfill. Can anyone give me an idea what this set is worth, and any collectors who would be interested in buying it.

I can take pictures from every angle and email them to interested collectors, or answer questions about the condition of a specific area or part of the chassis.

I grew up repairing consumer electronics in the late 80's to the late

Please email me as well as responding here.

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You'd be surprised what

I know what can be done to restore damaged cabinets, if the set is valuable. Unfortunately, there's very little to work with here. Many areas are broken and/or missing, and the remaining pieces are so wet that they are as soft as wet cardboard (no exaggeration). Some of the trim is intact, but the wood can not be salvaged.

I wouldn't dream of allowing it to go to the landfill. I rescued it from the curb. I was driving down a local road doing about 45 mph when I saw it out of the corner of my eye. That's the first time I ever triggered my car's ABS on a dry street!!! And the rest is history. If someone decides to restore this set, I'd love to document the entire process with detailed photos and descriptions!

I'll begin compiling a list of offers for this old girl. Please keep a lookout for me to help find a buyer. Thanks. MS

It seems more like I would need two things: A blueprint, and a Master Carpenter. Someone who really knows their stuff and can recreate the cabinet from scratch using the same materials and contruction as the original. Not an easy task at all. The only other option would be a parts set as a donor. But these TVs seem rare and valuable enough to make a donor highly unlikely, and a carpenter just may be worth paying for the many hours of highly skilled labor involved in making a new cabinet.

I don't want to turn this into a sales pitch, but I'm looking to profit as much as I can from the sale of this set. Any takers? Know anyone interested? Please have them contact me! Thanks. MS

Hi, I restored a larger version, with a 16" metal CRT, last year.

Unfortunately Ken is correct: the set is only valuable as a parts donor to another porthole being restored. They're not rare enough to be worth rebuilding from this condition. If it got flooded recently, the chassis parts may still be useable. The separate power-supply chassis is sometimes missing, and trim parts / knobs can be hard to find. The CRT may be good but would have to be tested; the flaking aquadag (graphite) coating can be replaced. But the TV may have been retired originally because the CRT was weak (if it hasn't been washed off, there is a date code on the base). The remaining tubes are common.

I doubt if there are many "collectors" of portholes, in the sense of having several. Most owners are like me (and you) who happen across one, like it, and decide to restore it to operation, whatever the inconvenience. Mine took several months (you could follow the progress at the Forum on antiqueradios.com from about September through December 2004). There were four discussion threads concerning it, in the TV section. But one of the reasons I was willing to invest so much time, was the almost-perfect cabinet.

Alan

Thanks for your input. I am beginning to realise the set may not be worth much if anything as a resto project. However, I'll keep looking for someone who would like to buy it. Either for restoration, donor parts, even for its weight in scrap metal, although this thing probably has more lead than a superman comic. It would be a shame to put this out at the curb and see it get crushed in the back of a garbage truck.

One alternative I've seen where the original cabinet is in such sad shape is

That's sort of like a "rest-mod" in the classic car world. Actually the opposite. Take a 65 Mustang and restore it so it looks original and new on the outside, while upgrading mechanical parts such as suspension, brakes, etc. to make it function better.

This would be the opposite. Restore the original "engine" and put it in a completely different "body'.

It might have some value to someone who needs a hard to find part like the flyback, or yoke. If the CRT is good, it will be worth something. The other tubes are common and not worth much. Things like the knobs and metal or plastic trim and control doors are also worth saving since they are impossible to recreate. A complete chassis is probably worth $50-$100 tops IF you find someone who needs one now. I've seen plenty of rough, but restorable sets like this go for $50-$100 on ebay. The problem is that not many people want to restore TVs and they take up a lot of space and are hard to ship. You can put it on ebay and hope for the best. I would save everything since you never know what someone might need from the cabinet. Honestly, you'll be lucky to get $10 for it unless you're willing to hold onto it until you find just the right buyer.

rec.antiques.radio+phono is more likely to have someone who could use it.

This web site also has a lot of people into vintage TVs.

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