We were offered this ultra-rare Silver model 159 ‘Circle’ tube radio (1937) and jumped at the opportunity to buy it. There are so few of these beautiful radios around and the model 159 is in a unique genre of antique radios with ‘Hat Box’, ‘Round’, or ‘Circle’ cabinets. Other radios in this genre are shown in the last picture of this listing include the highly collectable Detrola ‘Wooden Bluebird’ and G&F Searchlight.
The ‘Hat Box’ cabinet radios, with thin cabinet materials and modest substructures generally do not grow old gracefully. This Silver 159 radio is no exception. A radio is only original once, so we left the original finish to give the new owner the options to restore it or not.
We address a number of cabinet related repairs including the right side speak opening with one piece of missing veneer and several veneer hairlines. The wooden back panel was missing, so we fabricated a replacement to hold the round cabinet shape. We treated the finish crazing to improve its display quality.
This radio is a great size for display. The cabinet measurements are 10” diameter X 12” High X 6” Deep.
The 5-tube, 2-band (Broadcast and SW) chassis is clean with the power cord cut. The chassis is sold as 'not working'.
