Looking for auction and sales results for Louis XV with Phantom Deluxe AM/FM

[Auroraoldradios]

I've tried searching the usual suspects but came up with nothing. Is there a way to search old auctions on Estes or other sites? Someone is interested in buying mine and I'm trying to find a pricing range that's fair for both of us. I'm guessing that not too many come up for sale.

[David C. Poland]

Tall order to find a sale comparable for the rare Louis XV lowboy with any Scott receiver much less one with the FM Phantom Deluxe. (Zenith  also sold that cabinet  as the 15-U-273 in 1937  with nearly identical detail plus gold highlights on the carved wood on the 4 corners - a couple have sold at Estes Auction.) Estes sold (Oct 2023) that cabinet with a Scott Super 12  for an outlandish $3400, but auctions can produce unusual results with 2 aggressive bidders. I recall another Louis XV sold there more recently, but did not record the final bid nor recall the Scott model inside but recall it went "reasonable".

I have the Louis XV and AM/SW 1940 Phantom Deluxe (no FM) with the remote control, pretty good original finish, bad cloth, very nice chrome, complete with standard 12 inch speaker.   I paid a fraction of that price about 5 years ago in a private sale after discovering the seller elsewhere. (Took awhile to find a remote keyboard for it.)

Generally for a pre-war Scott radio, the cabinet and chassis value are often considered separately to arrive at a value. Cosmetic condition matters a lot for both the cabinet and the chrome on the chassis.  The FM feature on the Phantom is for the obsolete pre-war FM band, so I see no advantage to a pre-war FM Scott model other than sporting 2 magic eye tubes, ... and more effort to restore the chassis to good working condition. Some may judge a big advantage if it has the added post war Scott FM converter. The FM Phantom version probably has the optional 3 or 4 unit high fidelity speaker option (outboard crossover, 12 inch woofer and tweeter(s)). And, I always assume extensive electronic restoration will be required ... can you vouch for the playing condition?.

And vintage radio prices including most Scotts seem generally down the past few years.

Estes has some major collections coming up with Scotts and the like, so maybe worth your monitoring sales "on line" for a few months unless you are in a hurry to complete your private sale.

[David C. Poland]

I tried a simple internet search for Scott radio Louis XV. Up popped an February sale by a California collector of the 

of Louis XV  with the FM Phantom Deluxe (2 magic eyes) and having the post war FM converter. Knowing this collector, it was really nice and probably restored and working. $3400. eBay

Says Feb but not the year.  

[Auroraoldradios]

Yes, I may wait a bit and see if anything turns up at those auctions. I'm not in any hurry. As far as I know, it needs electronic restoration. The power chassis was recapped. I powered it up on a Sencore Powerite and it seemed like it wanted to work and current consumption wasn't too bad. That was 5 years ago so the details are a little fuzzy now. It has just a 12" speaker. There are no holes in the speaker mounting board for tweeters. The chrome is good, the cabinet almost mint. I bought it from the niece of the original owner back in 2020. I posted a scan of the original invoice a few years ago. The lighting isn't very good for the pictures.

[Auroraoldradios]

I had to correct the picture orientation.