I've read that it's estimated 90% of all bakelite radios sold were brown, 7% were white and the remaining 3% made up of all the other various colours. I assumed this was because in some cases the colour was a limited release or that any colour other than brown just wasn't that popular. This is explains why some colours are so rare.

I recently saw an add for AWA Radiolettes from 1937 that got me thinking. The advertisement had prices which showed the coloured sets sold at a premium price. It didn't sound like much, but after a bit of research I came up with some interesting figures.

It's difficult comparing apples with oranges but using a percentage of average weekly earnings, a Radiolette back then converted to today's dollars cost in excess of $4500. To have a coloured set added $200 - $300 to the price!

Apart from "limited run" colours, this might explain why comparatively few coloured sets were sold. I wouldn't fork out an extra couple of hundred dollars, a brown set would do me just fine! I'm sure a lot of struggling families in the 30's and 40's made exactly the same decision.

Cheers,

Warren

I have read those figures stated slightly differently:

"90% were brown, and of the remaining 10%, 90% of those were white"

... making the coloured sets even rarer.

Yes, radios were expensive appliances. And the valves were expensive, too. There was quite a market for traded-in sets.

The first radio I grew up with was the Airzone model shown in my avatar, except ours was white/cream. It was given to my parents as a wedding gift from my maternal grandparents.

The restored Airzone that I have now is brown. If I ever find a white/cream cabinet in good condition, I'll grab it.

I've seen a picture of a combination white and maroon version, but have never seen one of those in the flesh.

To get the point of rarity across even further, Australia and the United States were pretty much the only countries producing coloured Bakelite radios in any appreciable quantity.

Of course there are exceptions. Ekco produced a jade coloured 'saucepan' radio and Sonora produced a mottled dark green mantel radio, to name two examples.

Here in Australia the Astor Mickeys of the late 1940s were probably the most popular coloured receiver, being produced in around 20 different colours and patterns. AWA produced three different streams of the mighty Radiolette in several colours. I have a collection of the 500 series in six colours and I know of a seventh that is as rare as rocking horse droppings. I think it is fair to say that this was only matched by American companies like Motorola, Emerson and Fada.

The Philips in my avatar pic was marketed as "ivory", but in fact the bakelite is brown, spraypainted with a few coats of enamel paint and hand-detailed bronze-coloured inset lines. The knobs are matching cream plastic, I think - certainly not painted, possibly bakelite. One of the same model that was sold on eBay last week was brown, with ivory knobs and grille. They must have sprayed the grille while masking the rest.

True coloured bakelite is obviously the most collectable. How common was it to factory-spray brown bakelite to other colours? I've never seen another example.

Maven

Kriesler also did this to the Beehive.

http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/Vintage-large-Kriesler-Beehive-radio-/281106423767.

The Kriesler "Beehive" was one that was factory painted, I have a cream one with a green badge and green trim on the knobs.

It is a trap for the unwary wanting to strip off the paint and restore it to its original Bakelite, as I have heard stories of this exposing the louvres all being different and looking awful!

The construction of the cabinet is the top, bottom and each louvre is a separate piece, bolted together with long top to bottom bolts and my guess is that all the parts that were not good enough to use were simply painted.

Gandhn

Another trap for the unwary is that the beehive is held together with two long screws that pass through the louvres. Between each louvre is a blotting paper like washer. This is to prevent cracking of the louvres as the screws are tightened up. Tighten just enough to make the whole firm.

Tighten just enough to make the whole firm.

That's right. Not tighten until you hear hear "crack!" and then back off half a turn.

It is a trap for the unwary wanting to strip off the paint and restore it to its original Bakelite, as I have heard stories of this exposing the louvres all being different and looking awful!

I've seen a few Beehives with the top and bottom in walnut and the louvres painted. I'm not sure if this was done by Kriesler or done later by an owner though it was probably done for the same reason.

What is also a trap is the screw holes. Even the 11-7 on the bench has been damaged & self tappers put where 3/16" Whitworth metal threads should be.

I often find that it is advisable to get out the taps & dies & re-run the threads. This thread damage is common on the Beehive rods.

One of the bizzare things with the blotting paper is that it had a 1/4" hole in it, the same as the wobbly bakelite ones. Once things work loose, or are not assembled properly, these unsecured washers disappear down the hole. Then things rattle.

My solution to that, was to use a wide 3/16" fibre washer as they cannot fall down the hole.

Paint like Acrylic on Bakelite will not last; The Formaldehyde from the case tends to destroy the bond. It has the advantage that Acrylic paint spots on the bakelite cabinet can often be removed easily with a fingernail.

The true Bakalite was normally brown: The later was not Bakelite but a differnt formulation (different company) that was clear and able to be coloured. From memory it is Catalin. Airzone advertised something other than Bakelite.

Marc

The Beehive was an unusually original cabinet design - kudos to Kriesler.

The Philips designs seemed to take cues from Detroit auto styling. I've noticed their grille designs seems to move from angled fins to vertical fins to horizontal fins, about the same time that Detroit radiator grilles were making the same shifts. Later radio models also added some chrome-like details as Detroit piled on the chrome. This was the age of the automobile.

As I see it, with the transition from wood cabinets to bakelite to plastics, radios lost their place as furniture and became appliances. Only radiogram combos aimed to keep pride of place in the lounge room, right up into the 1970s when Japanese and european component hi-fi took over and functional appearance became the main design principle.

As a collectable item, I would always prefer the radio that most clearly expresses the taste and style of its moment in history. So I have some affection for the auto-grille style of my 1950 Phlips.

Maven

Hi Guys
I'm not sure of it's rarity of Phillips Green bakelite radios, though if anyone is interested I've got one on the market.

http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/251322446306.

Colours were fairly commonplace with the Philips Minstrels.

With the earlier Radiolettes, black was the most common colour. One of few radio models to defy the trend towards brown.

I would be betting that the green colour is enamel paint, not coloured bakelite. My Philips 123 is cream, factory-enamelled.

The composition of bakelite is a resin and a filler. The filler was often something like sawdust. In the moulding and curing process, the surface becomes a smooth area of mostly resin, just like a polished concrete floor can have a glassy finish over a jumble of stone filler. There is a rumour that the cases used for painted colours had a lower grade of finish to their surface - perhaps they were selected out of the production line for that reason. This means that stripping paint back can expose a disappointing surface.

I've also read that what we call coloured bakelite is actually a plastic with some different chemistry, different not only by the addition of colouring agents to the resin, but perhaps using more expensive filler ingredients than sawdust.

Maven

Bakelite of any sort is classed as a plastic. To describe the distinction between coloured and non-coloured Bakelite we need to mention the main ingredients in both types.

Early Bakelite is a mix of phenol formaldehyde and either asbestos or timber used as a filler. This kind of Bakelite made up the dark colours that are most common: brown, burgundy and black.

These ingredients did a poor job of creating the brighter colours seen in the 1940s so urea formaldehyde was used as the base and dyes were added to create the colours.

AWA, Astor and HMV were amongst the leading users of urea formaldehyde whilst Philips and Kriesler often painted brown shells to create their coloured sets.