VOLUME 16             APRIL 1999                NUMBER   4

VRPS-AWA 1998 Convention and Auction
Plano, Texas October 30-November 1, 1998

Web Edition

Reported by George Potter

The 23rd annual convention of the Vintage Radio and Phonograph Society (VRPS) and the Antique Wireless Association (AWA) was held October 30-November 1, 1998, at the Harvey Hotel in Plano, Texas. Attendance at the 3-day event was approximately 400, plus a few curious hotel patrons.

Events on Friday included a tube/book auction and the main auction. Auction totals for Friday were $20,088, with 529 items sold and 42 passes. Saturday included a silent auction followed by the main auction with 477 items sold and only 24 passes. Proceeds totaled $41,583. The grand total for both auctions was $61,671 -- a new high over last year!

Some of the top bid items sold at auction were as follows: an Emerson 190 butterscotch Catalin selling at $1,300; a FADA 652 Catalin at $625; a Mir-Ray mirror radio at $1,250; a Radiola Grand at $850; a Motorola neon advertising sign for $825; an RCA fluorescent ad sign at $300; a Kennedy 281 at $550 and a Kennedy 521 amp at $625; a nice Philco 60 cathedral at $400; two Predicta TVs at $200 and $320 respectively; an Edison Home phonograph at $500; a Crosley 124 cathedral at $250; a National HRO5-T1 with coils at $270; and a Zenith 12A57 at $500.

On Friday, VRPS had two excellent programs -- the first, presented by Dale Davenport of Fort Smith, Arkansas, was on restoration. Bob Olinger of Flower Mound, Texas, and Tom Burgess of Little Rock, Arkansas, presented another on early television. Saturday's banquet featured an awards presentation and guest speaker Durell M. Roth of Austin, Texas, who gave a lively talk and slide show on coast-to-coast, border-to-border radio.

A listing of over 600 auctioned items can be found in the print version of A.R.C.

Photo credits: George Potter and John V. Terrey.

(George Potter, 536 Drexel Dr., Lewisville, TX 75067-2974)

For information on the Vintage Radio & Phonograph Society (VRPS), contact George Potter, P.O. Box 165345, Irving, TX 75016. VRPS publishes "The Reproducer" quarterly and "Soundwaves" monthly. Dues are $13.50. The club holds monthly meetings, a spring auction, an annual convention, and summer swap meets.

A warning: Auction prices are not current values. Our selection of auction items is not necessarily complete. A listing such as this cannot adequately include the condition of cabinets, chassis, transformers, tubes, the operating status of the set, and the inclusion of incorrect, restored or replica components, etc. Auction prices are the result of the excitement of the auction process, the skill of the auctioneer and the specific interests of the participants. Nevertheless, auction prices serve as useful references and as another element in the value determining process. The possibility of error always exists, and if we are notified, corrections will be reported.

A display by Howard Stone of two versions of the Sperry SE1012 in the contest received a 1st place in military receivers.

Seen in the contest, this Electro Importing version of the Mignon RC-1, which tunes from 100 to 1,000 meters, sold for $6.50 in 1915 for use as a jeweler's time receiver.

This 1920 Chicago Radio Lab Paragon tuner, shown with an Adams-Morgan 1-tube detector unit, was one of many outstanding exhibits in the contest.

This RCA Radiola Grand without tubes and in unknown operating condition sold for $850.