Oldest working television goes on the auction block - Marconi type 702 mirror-lid television from 26th November 1936 -
The oldest working electronic television in Britain is going up for sale at a Knightsbridge auction house in London.
The television — which was originally bought for £99 and 15 shillings ($150) by a GB Davis in November, 1936 — will go on sale later this month at Bonhams.
And it is extremely rare. There are more Stradivarius violins still in existence than these televisions, experts say.
The auction house is asking between £3,000 and £5,000 ($4,700 and $7,800) for the set, but experts suggest it could go for a lot more.
A fully restored model of the same television sold for about £10,000 ($15,600) at an auction a couple of years ago. But this television, manufactured by Marconi, is even better.
“The television is a pre-war electronic television,” explained Laurence Fisher, department head for mechanical music and technical apparatus at Bonhams. “This hasn’t been restored and it works perfectly.”
Before 1936 there were mechanical televisions. But they were superseded by an electronic version with a glass tube and screen and a series of components.
The pre-war electronic television comes with its original bill of sale and it has a very low serial number.
It also comes with an instruction manual and photostats of service sheets, including circuit diagrams, chassis layouts and general workbench information.
Original typed sheets from EMI, dated 8th May 1946 following the sets' delivery at the Hayes factory for testing, are also included. The sheets detail upgrading suggestions and testing formulas and are stamped with the engineer's mark of the world-famous Gerry Wells.
“It’s in superb condition,” said Fisher. “The quality of the picture is astounding.”
The Marconi type 702 mirror-lid television is about 2 feet across, 16 inches deep and 40 inches high. It is housed in a mahogany and walnut veneered cabinet.
When the television’s first owner Davis died in 1981, Roy Flitter acquired it, Fisher said.
Flitter was a television service engineer in the 1940s. He had a small collection of radios, but this television was his pride and joy, Fisher said. “He kept it in very good condition. Very few components have been changed. All of the wiring in the television is pre-war and most of the components are pre-war too.”
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