Upcoming Estes Auction with several Scott radios

[palegreenthumb]

https://www.auctionzip.com/auction-catalog/vintage-radio-auction-8-...

Of note, lot 92 is a Scott Special Communications Receiver, and lot 155 is an Allwave-27 in a Warwick Grande cabinet. 

[palegreenthumb]

Thanks Dave for describing the condition of the AW15 Wellington better.  Now I understand the hammer price! 

The one I was drooling over was the dual-dial Allwave 12 in the early Warrington cabinet. I should've bid on it! I couldn't see if the full coil set was with it, and I just couldn't get enthusiastic about figuring out shipping for a leggy console.

[Kent King]

Rodney -

I bid on it for a bit, wish I'd known you liked the 12-2 - I have a good transport person at reasonable prices. And I have several sets of coils - could have made you a nice set, that cabinet is a scarce one. I don't know who got it, internet bidder...maybe we will hear more.

Kent

palegreenthumb said:

Thanks Dave for describing the condition of the AW15 Wellington better.  Now I understand the hammer price! 

The one I was drooling over was the dual-dial Allwave 12 in the early Warrington cabinet. I should've bid on it! I couldn't see if the full coil set was with it, and I just couldn't get enthusiastic about figuring out shipping for a leggy console.

[Kent King]

I can add one item to the discussion on the Warwick cabinet. I bought two boxes of "Scott literature" yesterday. There were about 40 letters between Joe Halser and June Puett from 1973 to 1978. They discussed finding early sets, the first serial number records and service and owners manuals they had. The Warwick cabinet that sold - Joe told June Puett that he found it in a letter dated August 1978. 45 years in one place!

 

Kent

[Kent King]

Dave -

I bought the Valencia from Bonham's, and I also know who got the Ravinia (for shipping reasons, it wound up at my place for a time before moving to its final home). I've wanted a Valencia for years, so I pushed on it, but it's as scarce as the Warwick, only a few examples known. Rarity doesn't always equate to prices though. I have the only (known) Wellington desk cabinet for the SG9 - and I'm sure it wouldn't fetch all that much!! And it suffers from being really big too.

Kent 

David Wilson said:

It's hard to believe a year ago, in a Bonham's auction an AW27 in a very hard to find Ravinia Grande cabinet with a Capehart record changer sold for only $3,750 compared to the this Estes auction were the AW 27 fetch $68,000 today. A mint Scott AW 23 in that same Banham's auction with the hard to find Valencia cabinet sold for just over $2,000 and an unrestored 1000Z Stratosphere sold for $24,225, which about the going action price on of these radio today. So radio buyers were at the Bonham's auction. I get the rarity of only 3 Warwick cabinets found to date. It's not a cabinet for everyone due to its sized and heavy gothic design influence, plus there's no record changer. I also get that record cutter is of some extra value. I have to scratch my head on the Rudy Vallee connection. It's a neat story that Rudy, who's star was starting to fade on radio in 1936, handed Peerless cabinet designer Frank Johnson his sketch's that influence Johnson's design. When I look at the price paid for one of three Scott Special Communications Receivers, produced personally for E.H. Scott and only 25 of these produced, as you mentioned here in your post, I have to scratch my head again, because that radio has some real Provenance to it, especially to a hard-cord, well-healed Scott radio collectors. The price that the Special realized seem right compared to past Special sales, plus give the Scott ownership. But, $68,000 for this AW 27, more than double than what one of Scott's personal radio sold for that was equally rare... it just does not add up. There has to be more to this AW 27 radio story to motivate at least two well-healed bidders to bid a Scott radio up to this level, especially in a declining market were all the collectors are slowly dying off. 

Norman S Braithwaite said:

I do not know who Joe procured the set from.  There are only three Warwick Grande consoles in collector captivity and the cabinet design was influenced by Rudy Vallee.

Norman 

[Kent King]

David -

What is your reference for the Special's built for Scott? This set was in the Halser collection for close to 50 years. I am not aware of any provenance with it. There are stories with many of the Specials.

Kent

David Wilson said:

August 26, 2023 Estes Auction Results                                                                                                Does anyone here have the Provenance on the Allwave 27 that sold for $68,000?

 

• Allwave 15 Wellington Cabinet – Complete, unrestored fair chrome:                               $    375
• Philharmonic Warrington cabinet – Complete, w/tweeters, fair chrome:                          $    950
• The Scott Special receiver - 1 of 3 built for E.H. Scott, complete with                                   receiver, speaker, and amp and custom case. Around 10 produced in total.                                This radio is said to be gifted to Scott’s banker. From the Joe Hosler collection:      $ 31,100                                                                                                                                                                                                                        
• AC10 w-power supply & speaker in Orleans cabinet older restoration:                           $      400
• Allwave 12 w-power supply & speaker- Olympia Cabinet, complete:                              $      850
• Early Dule dial Allwave complete, fair chrome in Warrington Cabinet:                             $      375
• Allwave 23 in rare Roslyn Grande Cabinet, compete w/tweeters good chrome:               $   2,500                                                                                        
• Philharmonic Beam of light in Tasman cabinet – complete w/tweeters fair chrome:        $    1,500                                                                                                
• Allwave 23 - Nelson Grande Cabinet, turntable, w/tweeter, good chrome:                     $   1,400
• Philharmonic Wellington Cabinet, Beam of light. Missing knobs, wrong tweeters and                                 1950s turntable w/1950 pre-amp:                                                                        $    800
• Rare Allwave 27 in rare Warwick Grande Cabinet, phonograph missing, rare Presto                                 record cutter, no rec. cutter amp. Correct amp, speaker tweeter. Unrestored                                           From Joe Hosler collection:                                                                                      $68,000
• Allwave 12 in Tasman cabinet wrong power supply & speaker:                                         $     850
• Shield Grid 9 chassis with power supply and amp:                                                            $     700

      NOTE: There were several partial Scott sets, chassis, amps speakers with no cabinets not listed here.         

      Price I believe do not include Estes auction fees.                                                    

[David Wilson]

Kent,

If you study the ad images of Scott using his Special receiver in his home, featured in the Scott Newsletter, you will see different silver and then black  inscribe plates with E.H. Scott's name on them. Also, the clear dial pointers shapes vary from wedge shaped to the rectangle ones on Joe's. In my opinion from looking a these newsletter images and the images of Joes Special there were at least three different Scott Special Communication receivers produced inscribed to be especially made for E.H. Scott.

[David Wilson]

More on Scott owned Special Communications Receivers: 

See photos attached blown up from the October 1939 Scott Newsletter. The silver tag does say "Built for E. H. Scott" after I enhanced it in PhotoShop. Also below from same newsletter story a photo of E.H. Scott at his radio in his home. This radio has a black engraved plate on it and he story states this that this is Scott's radio and you can read his name on the plate. The Special that just sold at Estes has a Silver engraved plate stating it was built for Scott like the one shown in the 1939 newsletter but the Estes Special has the rectangle clear dial indicator plastics and the ones shown in the newsletter that say they were built for Scott have the narrowing, clear plastic indicators. Also the type size in the signal meter that says "SCOTT" looks to  smaller than the one just sold at Estes that the two shown in the newsletter. This is why I believe there were three Scott Special Communication Receivers built for Scott himself. 

[Norman S Braithwaite]

I'm not convinced.  The presentation plaques are bright nickel hence photographs show what is reflected, not the face of the plaque.  If the plaque is reflecting a dark surface, the plaque will appear dark.  In the newsletter, "Scott" on the meter face was added by the copy editor to be visible.  The letters are neither uniform nor centered.  That leaves knobs and pointers which can be easily changed.

Norman 

[palegreenthumb]

The first 2 pics look like they could be the same radio, but #3 definitely looks like a different radio to me. The dials are laid out differently, explaining the shorter pointers.

-Rodney

[John T. Meredith]

I'm with Norman.  Very interesting auction.

[David Wilson]

Norm, I spent 41 years in the advertising and PR agency business. A good deal of my time in photo studios with clients shooting their consumer products. I would agree with you that the "Scott" name on the face of the meter could have been cut in. We did those kinds of things on bathroom scales shots with the client logo in the 1980s before computer generated layout were perfected. I also agree that the plate was most likely bright nickel when new and clear coated and would have dulled over time. Perhaps they used a black cloth hung on both sides of the camera to kill the refection in the plaque explaining why it's black in the photo of Scott operating his Special in home which you point out in your post. I can see your point and it could be the same radio in both photo in the 1939 newsletter. The Scott Special that sold at Estes is a different radio than the radio or radios in the 1939 Scott newsletter. Attached below are three example of different specials in collector's hands today, which you can compare with the three photos in my post before this. All three collector radios in these photos and the Special that sold at Estes have rectangle, clear pointers. So it looks like some of the Specials were produced with rectangle, clear, tampered pointers, like the example in the Scott newsletter. The Special examples in the Scott newsletter also have 0 through 210 with position markers in black numbers on the outer edge of the radios two circular band dials. The three collector Special examples and the Estes example attached below have a black outside ring with reversed marker numbers 0 through 210 in silver on each dial. On a final note of difference, the top and bottom nickel trim is different on the Special sold at Estes for all the others example including the ones in the Scott newsletter. The Special examples in the early 1939 Scott newsletter could be early production prototypes and explain the dial differences. So, I believe that Special radio sold at Estes in not one of the radio shown in the 1939 Scott newsletter. 

Norman S Braithwaite said:

I'm not convinced.  The presentation plaques are bright nickel hence photographs show what is reflected, not the face of the plaque.  If the plaque is reflecting a dark surface, the plaque will appear dark.  In the newsletter, "Scott" on the meter face was added by the copy editor to be visible.  The letters are neither uniform nor centered.  That leaves knobs and pointers which can be easily changed.

Norman 

[Kent King]

OK, I had long ago noted the differences in the Specials picture with E.H. I've compiled a list of those differences and which sets have what unique features. I would not find it hard to believe that Scott might personally test every Special that was built...but of course, that still leaves the nameplate as a question. I suppose they added it for the promo pics. There are so many questions I wish I could ask dear old Ernest....thanks!

Kent