30 Sep 2009
10:00 BST
London, Knightsbridge
The Michael Bennett-Levy Early Technology Sale
Back to auction 17616
The Michael Bennett-Levy Early Technology Sale
Back to auction 17616
A rare Baird Televisor,
by the Plessey Company, circa 1930,
No. 217, with 30-line five-spoke Nipkow disc, twin-coiled motor with marked casing, mains-dropper bar with bead wire insulation runs, lens housing containing double optics, on wooden baseboard, the neon selenium tube in original carton with base slip, in typical green painted tin case, with arched top and base disc clearance covers, twin back connection and tube covers, The Eye Of The World, plaque, period knobs, on line-decorated bracket feet, (some dents and paint scrapes to case, minor oxidisation, Nipow blackened and spokes thin) - 26in. (66cm) wide
No. 217, with 30-line five-spoke Nipkow disc, twin-coiled motor with marked casing, mains-dropper bar with bead wire insulation runs, lens housing containing double optics, on wooden baseboard, the neon selenium tube in original carton with base slip, in typical green painted tin case, with arched top and base disc clearance covers, twin back connection and tube covers, The Eye Of The World, plaque, period knobs, on line-decorated bracket feet, (some dents and paint scrapes to case, minor oxidisation, Nipow blackened and spokes thin) - 26in. (66cm) wide
Sold for
£18,000
inc. premium
Footnotes
- Literature:
TV is King, M. B-L, 1994, p. 6
Arguably one of the most famous and sought-after pre-war televisions, John Logie Baird's invention created a stir when he first demonstrated it to the public four years prior in 1926, his glorious 'Tele-visior'.
It is thought that Plessley made less than 1000 of these sets, and with recent discoveries including serial number 123, this example at 217 is one of the earliest found.
Vision was transmitted via wireless and connected to the back, whilst the use of another wireless broadcast the sound on another frequency.
M.B-L comments: "The number of surviving examples known is uncertain but less than fifty for sure, including incomplete examples, a more likely figure is around thirty in museums and private hands."
Category: Collectibles / Scientific Instruments
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