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.

[David C. Poland]

So pricing very much depends on the interest levels of buyers and sellers.

Louis XV with FM Phantom Deluxe sold at Estes Auction 3/13/21 for $1700.

From my photo files at that auction:  .IMG_1532.JPG

[Auroraoldradios]

That's very helpful information. Thanks. 

[Robert Feenstra]

Oh wow!, I have that Zenith radio that's also in the pic!

David C. Poland said:

So pricing very much depends on the interest levels of buyers and sellers.

Louis XV with FM Phantom Deluxe sold at Estes Auction 3/13/21 for $1700.

From my photo files at that auction:  .IMG_1532.JPG

[Scott Seickel]

That set is in fantastic condition.  Hard to find sets that nice, especially with original invoice. 

[Auroraoldradios]

More pictures.

[David C. Poland]

I would have expected the FM Phantom to always include the optional 4 unit speaker system. But we are noting  FM examples with just the standard 12 inch speaker, same as my AM Phantom Deluxe (Louis XV) speaker. The Philharmonic was offered with the same optional hi-fi speaker system. but with a 15 inch woofer. 

I did find a late production  FM Phantom in Michigan some years ago. Wanted the speaker system, but bought the chassis too (but left the big Victorian radio/phono credenza). It had a 15 inch main speaker rather than a 12 inch. It had the black power transformer, the 4 unit speaker system with the field coil tweeters, outboard crossover with rectifier tube, and Jones plugs on the cables - all of which details indicated late 1941 production.   I wanted the speakers for my 1940 AM Phantom Deluxe w remote control - but found the Jones plugs conversion was a show stopper as the needed round cable plug are difficult of find and and the wiring demands exceeded the older 7 pin plug limitations. Instead, I sold the whole FM radio to a fellow collector with a big interest in pre-war FM and who had a suitable Scott console for it.

I finally did assemble all the parts so my AM Phantom Deluxe Louis XV now has the 4 unit hi-fi speaker system with 12 inch woofer and PM version Q series tweeters. Sounds good with a CD input to phono input.

Incidentally, except for the earliest production crossovers, there is a separate 4 wire cable from crossover to receiver with wiring to limit tweeter function on FM only.  A wafer on the band switch controls tweeter operation, and in FM mode limits the upper frequency range to the big speaker. I adjusted receiver wiring so the tweeters also operate on phono input for sake of better sound with CDs.    

And no, you cannot merely use the standard 12 inch Scott speaker (holding the output transformer with 38 ohm VC (voice coil)) in conjunction with a crossover because of considerable wiring issues and VC incompatibility. The crossover holds the needed output transformer for the Scott 12 inch 8 ohm woofer and the individually driven tweeters and the small 5 pin plug for the big speaker is hard to find.

My 1941 Scott Laureate also has the optional high fidelity speaker system, but using a 15 inch co-axial speaker with the single tweeter mounted inside the big speaker's cone.

Caution - before you assume a little 4 pin socket on the back of a 1937-41 Scott is for a crossover, trace wiring to be sure it is not wired for phono operation and phono audio input. Remember, Scott was a custom set builder and a particular example might not be standard in as much as Scott could and would modify to suit the buyer and do custom installations.

[Auroraoldradios]

I just noticed my Instruction Manual isn't the same as the one in the info archive. Page 1 is slightly different. The archive's page 18 has FM instructions that my version lacks. My total page count is 22, the archive's is 23. I'm assuming mine is the early version since my serial number seems to date it as an early chassis.