Radios Past

It’s a fact that the major collections of historic radios are privately owned, but now you can see one of the world’s greatest radio collections in person.  Over 400 of the most collectable radios of the ‘30s, ‘40s & early ‘50s are at the new Hugh & Jane Hunt Vintage Radio Gallery.  It’s located in the Washington County Museum in Fort Calhoun, near Omaha Nebraska.

Hugh and Jane Hunt cut the ribbon for the new wing of the museum on April 10th, 2026.  The 1,200 square foot gallery is filled with custom-made cabinets and displays with rare and valuable radios.

We start our tour by going around an octagonal case filled with colorful Catalin Radios from the 1930s & 1940s (click to enlarge).

This cabinet alone likely has over $200,000 worth of extremely rare radios made of Catalin plastic.  If you read the graphics, you learn that Catalin was a translucent liquid poured into molds with added coloring that was often swirled.  The labor intensive process was only used from the mid ‘30s to mid ‘40s.

The large rectangular cabinets have a lot more Catalin radios.

There are over 150 Catalin radios at the center of the gallery.

Most of the remaining 250 radios are made of other early plastics like Bakelite and Plaskon.

In the above displays are some of the rarest and most valuable radios…the Air King Skyscraper models.  Looking like the Deco buildings of the ‘30s, the Skyscrapers (made of colorful Plaskon) were originally manufactured in 1933.  Since plastic was a new medium, it attracted the world’s greatest designers.  That’s why radios have such varied and eye-catching looks.

Everywhere you turn is another case of rare radios, including some examples from other countries.

This corner display features the very deco blue mirror and chrome Sparton radios from about 1936.  The graphic notes that a large Sparton Nocturne floor radio like the one shown sold for $149,000 at an auction.  The smaller round table models are the Sparton Bluebirds, and the rectangular shaped radios are Sparton Sleds.

These unusual novelty radios are included…

…and so are wooden radios.  The very rare Zenith Stratosphere floor model has its own clever display…as does a 1942 Rock-Ola Jukebox.

Besides Hugh & Jane Hunt, radio collector David O’Hanlon worked two years to pull together the project.  He oversaw the cleaning, packing, moving, and displaying of every radio, plus wrote all the graphics.

There’s a real Wizard Of Oz moment when you go to the museum.  Before you get to the radio gallery, you walk through the displays and photos of historic times.  As you can somewhat see above, those are mostly black and white.  When you step into the radio section, it’s like Dorothy stepping into Oz.  The color is almost overwhelming.  The radios prove that although we often see the 1930s and 1940s through the old photos and films of the era, in reality those years were as colorful as any decade.

Now it’s your turn.  Any radio collector who can make it to the museum should plan a trip.  Fort Calhoun is just north of Omaha, less than 15-minutes from the north edge of the city.  The photos show what’s in the museum, but nothing replaces an up-close look at the beauty of these spectacular radios.  The Washington County Museum is open Thursdays & Fridays 10 AM to 5 PM, and Saturdays & Sundays Noon to 5 PM. There’s no admission charge, but donations are welcome.

Bonus Photos:

See how much fun it is to see the radios!  David gave a tour to my wife, Jeannette, and our good friends, Mary Kay & Al Koontz (also a radio collector).

I also wanted to include the complete custom corner cabinet in one shot to show how brilliantly it works for displaying the larger and smaller radios together.

Most of the large radios on top are from foreign counties.  In fact, while most of the radios displayed are from the U.S., the collection includes radios from Germany, England, Russia, Canada, France, Czechoslovakia, Italy, Australia, and more.

About seven years ago I greatly reduced my collection.  Now, I’m taking it down even farther.  Below are the radios for sale with prices marked.  If there’s no price, the radio is not for sale.  The ones I’m keeping are either because I haven’t had them long enough, or because of some family attachments.

Sales are limited to the 48 contiguous states.  Shipping will be $50.  I’ll make up the difference for ones that cost more, and will pay to have the radios professionally packed and insured.  Below are some individual photos that can be enlarged, and specific information for each radio.  You can email me at philbausch@gmail.com.  The only online payment service I have is PayPal.

Here’s the amazingly styled 1938 Emerson Model 246 “D-dial” (notice all those sculptured features).  This is the Plaskon version of Emerson’s “Little Miracle”.  The ivory Plaskon case has no cracks, chips, or repairs…an exceptional example.

SOLD Crosley Split Grille

A beautiful white 1947 Fada Model 845 “Cloud”.  The case is swirled and is almost flawless, except for an extremely hard to see stress line in the dial surround at about the 10 o’clock position.  I had the set for years before I even noticed it.

This is the harder-to-find pre-war 1940 Fada Bullet Model 115 in near mint condition.  The Catalin is gorgeous, untouched, and all original.  I doubt there could be a finer example.

This was one of my “must have” radios, a 1945 Sentinel Model 284 with a highly swirled Sand Catalin case.  Notice how the swirls add to the design of the radio.  The original red swirled Catalin knobs are a real bonus, because knobs made of red Catalin are rare.  A completely beautiful example of the most uniquely designed well-rounded Catalin radio. No problems at all.

SOLD  The Catalin case is bright shiny red with yellow swirls, and it has a dramatic butterscotch grille.  It’s a 1945 Garod 1B55L “Commander”.  Absolutely zero problems.

This was my first Addison radio, the 1940 Model A2.  Because of the dramatic contrast of the case and trim, it’s one of my favorite A2 color combinations, even though it’s maroon Bakelite instead of Catalin.  The case has no cracks, chips, or repairs.

SOLD  Addison A2

This 1939 Majestic radio is the iconically designed Zephyr model with wraparound grille.  Normally found in brown or black Bakelite, this is the seldom seen shiny maroon version (not painted).  No cracks, chips, or repairs.

I owned all three Catalin Emerson Patriot styles that were introduced at the 1939 World’s Fair (plus several of the Aristocrats) and this is the one I kept.  It’s in great condition.  The handle is a reproduction, and actually looks better than an original.  What a clever radio design.

Besides being a cute little Canadian Gem Model 855 radio, the main draw is the rarity of owning a radio made of blue Plaskon.  The case has no cracks, chips, or repairs.

SOLD  Beautiful amber Catalin with brown swirls and contrasting red knobs highlight the RCA “Little Nipper” Model 9TX4.  No cracks chips or repairs, but it does have the usual stress line inside the right side of the case.  Luckily, the stress line is nearly invisible on the outside, because it’s hidden in the crease of the wraparound grille.  A great little radio.

SOLD  Sentinel Model 248NI is a rare find in that has an untouched original case with no flaws.  The Catalin tortoise-shell wraparound grille, the dial surround, and the knobs all look great and contrast nicely with the case.

Talk about beautiful Catalin!  This cleverly designed “Harp” is a 1938 DeWald Model A501 in the oxblood color.  It’s very shiny and in perfect condition.  It’s all original except the excellent replacement grille cloth.

Normally, these articles are about radios from the 30’s to 50’s, but we’re going to take a “giant leap for mankind” by moving from the Jet Age to the Space Age.  It was in 1957, when this unit (below) was designed and manufactured in Germany under the name Kuba, using some Telefunken components.

This very dramatic design integrated radio, records, recording, and television into one unit.  It had 8 speakers for hi-fi, and the wing-like TV portion could swivel for better viewing angles.  This was available until 1962, and underwent some style updates.

Then in 1964, a small startup company in Canada, Clairtone, came up with this cool design called Project G.

The eye-catching parts of the look are the two globe speakers almost floating in air.  The stereo was very expensive, about the same price as a small car at that time.  In today’s money, it would be $20,000, and that’s the lower end of what they currently sell for.  The top slid to one side to reveal a stereo amplifier, a record holder, and a turntable.

There were various designs through 1967, with components being moved around, and even reel-to-reel recorders being added.  Another model, the Project G2, has an additional wooden section.

The case is not as deep as the Project G, and it has smaller speaker globes.  Each globe could be rotated, and included a woofer and two tweeters.  Here’s a comparison of the two models:

What got me started exploring space age stereos was when I spotted one on a TV show that was set in 1971.  It was this “flying saucer” model by Weltron.

Here’s a close look at the stereo components inside.

Hidden under the lid are a record changer, an AM/FM radio, and the controls.  You can see this 1970 Model 2005 has an 8-track tape recorder at the front.  The 1973 Model 2007 changed that to a cassette recorder.

The Weltron was available in yellow, and although it had built-in speakers, the larger floor/shelf speakers could be added for better sound.  The above photo includes one of the colorful portable sphere-shaped radio/tape players also made by Weltron.

Weltron’s space ship stereo had four round feet on the bottom so it could land as a table model.  Just for a comparison with radios we collect, these Weltrons (refurbished) are mostly priced around $4,000.

All of these space age stereos are highly collectible, and the most popular ones still have parts being made for them, so collectors can return the stereos to functioning models.

Hope you fellow collectors of tube-type radios enjoyed a trek into the space age.

Extra:  Speaking of 1970’s stereos…my “recording console” originally designed and built in 1973 wasn’t space age, but it did have two Sony reel-to-reel recorders (discrete 4-channel & standard 2-channel), an AR turntable, a space-age desk lamp, and a tiny alien playing a guitar.

Extra II:  For an article about the Setchell Carlson “Jet” radio (that’s superimposed on the very first photo), there’s a link below this photo.

Here’s the link:  https://radiospast.com/2020/03/setchell-carlson-jet/

One of the many fun things when I started collecting radios was that there were cool ones I could afford!  Organizing some old photos recently, I came across shots of some of my early radio acquisitions.  Among those I collected were Crosley “Bullseyes” and Motorola “Jets”.

The top row of Crosley “Bullseye” radios are reminiscent of 1950’s cars.  They have speedometer-looking dials, shiny baked-on paint, and fins that actually foreshadowed what was to come on automobiles.  These Crosleys came out in 1951 as part of what Crosley called “Coloradios”, because they came in a variety of colors.

This advertisement shows the Crosley lineup in 1951.  It includes what are called “dashboard” radios.  The D-25 clock radios, and the Series-10 radios with the large chrome circular grilles, do look like dashboards.  My first one was white, and my second was metallic silver-green.

Below is another old photo of part of my collection in the early 2000’s.  You can see the entire bottom row is all Crosley radios.

If you click-to-enlarge the photo, you’ll see a D-25 clock radio in dark metallic blue, a white Series-10 Crosley with the large chrome center dial and two chrome knobs, four Bullseyes, and a red “Left Bullseye” from the “Serenader” series.

Here’s a much better look at the style of the Bullseye radios.  The design is wonderfully compact, combining the speaker and dial, plus a symmetrical case.  The metallic blue paint was beautiful.

To show how good the colors of Crosley radios look together, here’s a stack of them belonging to a radio friend, John O’Connor.

Motorola used the style of newly developed jet airplanes for their 53-H radios in 1954.

Besides the cool style, Motorola promoted the fact that the fairly small table radio had a large speaker for fuller sound.

Motorola called the color “red”, but most people would call it pink.  The side shots show the swept back design with what looks like jet engines on the sides.  Here’s the black Bakelite (not painted) version.

More ‘50’s radios that were once on our shelves:

There are two colorful Motorola clock radios, a bright green Olympic, a Philco “Split Level”, an orange Zenith clock radio, and two Canadian Northern Electric radios that were manufactured with unusual hammertone paint.

The reality of radio collecting for me was that I routinely sold the lower cost radios to help buy more Catalin radios from the 30’s & 40’s.  Also, prior to moving across the country in 2008, we sold a lot of our collection.  By 2013 my remaining ‘50’s radios fit into a small cabinet.

Why were these the last ones?  The two Crosley dashboard radios were near mint versions of the two hardest to find colors.  The Bullseyes & Jets were the ones I liked best.  And, the three Emerson 744B’s were some of the most collectible radios from the decade of early Rock & Roll.  With the selling of the majority of my radios in 2018, my ‘50’s radios were gone…but not forgotten.