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Zenith Spanish Deluxe Radio From 1929 Excellant CondCould this be the most expensive radio ever? I'm not sure but in 1929 this set sold for $2500.00 and i believe yuo could buy a nice automobile for $600.00. The 25 tube stratosphere sold ofr a meager $750.00 in 1935. I only know of three of these radios in exisatnce today, one owned by zenith in chicago, the second, an early battery set model probably from 1926 or 1927 which was owned by ralph muckow in the elgin radio museum and shown on page 113 of the book zenith radio the early years by harold cones and john bryant. This is the third, a later model from around 1928 or 1929 and is shown on page 114 of the zenith book. When this set was built zenith used the latest ac chassis available, which was from the zenith 39a which was introduced in 1928. The radio has not moved from the room it was photographed in for the book and is still in excellant condition. I am the third owenr of this set and when i purchased it it had some stains on the top and some loose glue joints. I took it to a fellow in the chicago suburbs who does restoration work on fine antique furnature and he completely disassembled the set and re-glued teh old hyde glue joints with a modern glue. He also restored the top and cleaned the entire set and srayed a new coat of lacquer over the entire radio leaving the original finish intact. The set looks marvelous and works as it did in 1929. The second owner told me that this set was purchased by katz and ballanger in 1929 and placed in the lobby of the marlboro theater on west madison street in chicago. They owned a chain of theaters in the 20's when a theater wsa very elegant, more like todays opera houses. They advertized that you would be entertained from the minute you entered the theater until yuo left, thus the spanish delux in the lobby. This is a very large radio measuring about 56 wide, 20 3/8 deep, and 53 1/2 high. The buyer can either pick up this radio or i will assist the buyer in shipping arrangements. I recently sold my 25 tube stratosphere which is shown on page 133 of the zenith radio book and the buyer used craters and freighters to ship the set to california, and arrived in good condition. I will also include my copy of the 1955 booklet the zenith story by zenith radio corp which has an interesting story abuot another late model ac spanish deluxe set purchased by king alexander of jugoslavia and how he was so happy with the set he gave zenith an order to supply radios for the jugoslavian school system. I will be listing some other very nice items from zenith and atwater kent including a very rare zenith zepher tombstone radoi and an atwater kent lamp with the original lamp shade so do check out my other auctions.
Thanks.
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