Destruction of American History: DON'T DO IT.

[Cousin Hepcat]

Folks,

I'm sure many of you DON'T NEED to be told this. But, Please, PASS THE WORD ON to those who need to be told.

Don't destroy the large fully-working near-mint condition ULTRA-RARE High-End deluxe wooden radio consoles of the 1930s-40s, to rip them apart piece-by-piece, and to try selling each nut-and-bolt individually for $100-or-more on eBay. It's Greedy, Destructive, and Just Plain Dumb.

If you care to see a hideous example, this one made me so mad, I just wasted about an hour of my time typing this in over at a radio/phono collectors forum.... there, you'll get to see the dismantling of this VERY RARE, near-mint, 1940's flip-over 78 rpm record changer and radio combination, be dismantled bit by bit, even the individual panels of wood of the cabinet torn apart, by a greedy online-auction-house seller, and I'm seeing this more and more, though this is the most appauling example. The seller proudly boasts that it had been fully working. Very soon, we'll be asking ourselves, Where Did They All Disappear To, When So Many Were Originally Made.

If any of you find yourself in this situation, I offer alternative methods for you to "dispose" of such a historic item WITHOUT destroying it, which I'm positive will make you MORE money in the end:

http://www.antiqueradios.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=9&t=176408

Thanks,

- CH

These are photos of the Actual Machine off the online auction site, before and after it was dismantled. Then, below that, is someone else's youtube video of how the machine used to be able to take a stack of 78 rpm records, both 10-inch and 12-inch, and play through the entire stack, also flipping the records over to play the other sides automatically: It was one of the finest (if not THE finest) machines ever made during that era:

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[video=youtube;V5VgBuT1lZk]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V5VgBuT1lZk&feature=related[/video]

 

[LizzieMaine]

That's absolutely appalling. It's bad enough when someone fishtanks or minibars a common Philco, but to destroy a one of a kind piece like this is the worst kind of philistinism. Which, unfortunately, is exactly the age we're living in.

 

[C-dot]

It makes me insane when people do this. They do it to classic cars, old houses, and gorgeous dresses aswell, among other things.

People have no respect for history.

 

[skyvue]

Heck, I even get miffed when they rip apart old magazines to sell the ads.

 

[dhermann1]

Well, I just sent them an irate message on Ebay, not that it will do any good. Grrrrr . . . .

 

[Rathdown]

Couldn't agree more--- years ago I bought a Victor Velo Model 50-X in an Olive Wood cabinet from an ice cream store (!) in Pasadena just hours before the owner was going to gut it and install a modern tape deck to provide "old timey" music in his shop...

oh well... I figure folks who do this sort of thing will rot in Hell forever listening to elevator music. And it serves 'em right.

 

[Marc Chevalier]

This reminds me a bit of the mid '90s, when costumers for the movie "Titanic" were combing the world over looking for authentic vintage Victorian and Edwardian clothing. They had a gargantuan budget, but found that purchasing authentic 100 year-old pieces --some of which were in excellent condition-- was often cheaper than having repro costumes made for the extras.


Guess what happened to most of those vintage clothes? They got destroyed, waterlogged and shredded during the ship-sinking scenes. A friend of mine sold some absolutely magnificent, pristine Edwardian dresses and suits to the movie, unaware that these very fine pieces would also be sacrificed ... but sacrificed they were, as he found out later.

 

[DavidJ]

For shame. This is my first time in this part of the Lounge, and I'm glad that everyone appreciates historic items. All these losses are saddening.

 

[Shangas]

"It's old. Who cares?"

That's all they ever say.

It's sad when I see things like this happen. Makes me feel so sad.

 

[rue]

It makes me insane when people do this. They do it to classic cars, old houses, and gorgeous dresses aswell, among other things.

People have no respect for history.

Don't even get me started.... this kind of thing makes me extremely mad

This reminds me a bit of the mid '90s, when costumers for the movie "Titanic" were combing the world over looking for authentic vintage Victorian and Edwardian clothing. They had a gargantuan budget, but found that purchasing authentic 100 year-old pieces --some of which were in excellent condition-- was often cheaper than having repro costumes made for the extras.


Guess what happened to most of those vintage clothes? They got destroyed, waterlogged and shredded during the ship-sinking scenes. A friend of mine sold some absolutely magnificent, pristine Edwardian dresses and suits to the movie, unaware that these very fine pieces would also be sacrificed ... but sacrificed they were, as he found out later.

I knew they used authentic clothing, but I had no idea they used them in those scenes! How incredibly horrible!!

 

[Tomasso]

Guess what happened to most of those vintage clothes? They got destroyed, waterlogged and shredded during the ship-sinking scenes. A friend of mine sold some absolutely magnificent, pristine Edwardian dresses and suits to the movie, unaware that these very fine pieces would also be sacrificed ... but sacrificed they were, as he found out later.

I think that your friend was naive (or feigning so) to be unaware of the demands put upon wardrobe in filmmaking, especially action films. That said, the loss is truly disturbing.

 

[dhermann1]

I sent a message to the seller of the item. He says that he received it with the amp and speakers torn out, and the doors torn off at the hinges. So he's selling off what's left. Damned shame.

 

[Chas]

I have a 1940's radio cabinet that is doing duty as my TV stand/dvd cabinet. It's superb in the job, but the problem is that I am moving to Australia at the end of the month. It's beastly heavy and it will probably end up in a junk pile.

Unless somebody wants to come and get it...

 

[LizzieMaine]

I sent a message to the seller of the item. He says that he received it with the amp and speakers torn out, and the doors torn off at the hinges. So he's selling off what's left. Damned shame.

Didn't he say in the original sale posting that the "item was in working condition when we got it?" He must have some awful hellacious kids.

 

[dhermann1]

Just going by what he told me. "I COULD NEVER HACK APART A FUNCTIONING CAPEHART. I THINK THEY ARE WORKS OF ART TOO. GLAD WE CAN STILL BE FRIENDS. R.M. T"
I believe him.

 

[Haversack]

Something similar happened to the Blacker House in Pasadena. This was one of Greene and Greene's 'Ultimate Bungalows' in which they had designed everything from the furniture to the light fixtures. Back in the 1980s, a collectors yard sale was held...

 

[O2BSwank]

This is not an uncommon occurrence. The cure is to buy up the consoles that you find at reasonable prices and preserve them. Encourage others to do so also. This also applies to other vintage items.

 

[C-dot]

This is not an uncommon occurrence. The cure is to buy up the consoles that you find at reasonable prices and preserve them. Encourage others to do so also. This also applies to other vintage items.

Boy, would I love to do that - But the flies in my bank account won't let me.

 

[Cousin Hepcat]

I have a 1940's radio cabinet that is doing duty as my TV stand/dvd cabinet. It's superb in the job, but the problem is that I am moving to Australia at the end of the month. It's beastly heavy and it will probably end up in a junk pile.

Unless somebody wants to come and get it...

Chas, any way you could send me a pic? (I just PM'ed you my email address so you don't have to post the pic to a web server, you can send it as an email attachment) I could tell you if it's a "virtual National Treasure" like this Capehart, or something more common & less ornate / rare which would be less of a "tragedy"... If it IS really "rare / collectable", you could create a Free account on the same antique radio forum and post the pic and your location there, and say "free to a good home", or even put it on your local Craigslist, or Have A Yard Sale, and there are collectors ALL OVER, including Canada, At Least It Would Have a Chance of surviving... Unless it's one of the "extremely common / homely / plain / lower-quality" ones, in which case, it's still a minor shame, but not a Terrible Tragedy like this Capehart...

I sent a message to the seller of the item. He says that he received it with the amp and speakers torn out, and the doors torn off at the hinges. So he's selling off what's left. Damned shame.

dhermann1, interesting. I didn't message the seller because I knew I'd let him have it, and he't probably report me to eBay, and since I'm a seller too, eBay is harsh on sellers, they might simply suspend my account for "harassing another member with whom I don't have a business transaction" or some such thing. (eBay does that kind of stuff.)

I STILL DON'T GET this type of thought process AT ALL.

OK, so someone made themselves a guitar amp with the power amp and speakers. It would NOT be hard for a buyer/collector to retro-fit one of the MANY parted-out 1940's tube amps and speakers out of other consoles floating around on eBay, to make this a Fully Working machine again. Sure, it wouldn't be quite as powerful high-quality sound system, but it would still be RARE, AWESOME, and VERY VALUABLE to collectors, and historically. And if someone ever found a proper matching amp later, they could always re-install the Proper Original model amp.

SO, what kind of thought process would lead someone to say, since the amp & speakers were gone, they should chop the entire thing, record-changer and cabinet and all, into firewood???

I suppose if we find a 1910's Rolls Royce in mint condition except missing the original engine, we could chop it into little pieces too, without considering that a car collector Must Be Resourceful In Order To Be In The Hobby, and a collector could either keep it as-is, or retro-fit a more recent engine to get the car running, until maybe someday an original engine could be re-installed...

NO, the seller's response just doesn't work at all... AT LEAST keep the CABINET in one piece, the CHANGER in one piece... Auuuugh.

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He says ... the doors torn off at the hinges.

Let's look again at the pics: (Awesome woodwork on this unit, you just don't see that much even back in the 1940's radios...) ALL the doors are Present, and none look "torn off at the hinges" to me... maybe one of the screws was loose because someone tightened it too much, and it stripped the threads; THAT'S part of the justification for chopping the whole thing up into firewood??? It just isn't logical...

Oh well, thanks for passing along the info, dhermann1; guess I'll just never understand the logic behind this one, no matter what excuses someone tries to make, there's NO EXCUSE that'll make any sense... Should have sold it all together what was there, for a collector to add an amp & speaker to make it whole (Heck, even a modern-day stereo amp and speaker box shoved into the cabinet behind the front grill!). Someone shouldn't buy a rare unique historic item in the first place if they're just going to chop it up into little pieces...

 

[Shangas]

"But it's old. Who cares?"

I repeat that again.

Some people literally, just do not give a damn.

And it's a shame.

That is a stunning radiola cabinet.