I wonder if anybody here was the buyer of this item ? I was not a bidder, due to time-budget constraints.

Precedent Radiogram

It looks like a pre-war steel-needle 78rmp-only model - I've never seen one like this in bakelite, though there were plenty in wooden cabinets.

Seems pretty good condition, though it will be a challenge to replace the broken/missing vertical swivel joint for the tone arm.

Maven

It is in unusually good condition and went for a reasonable price too. On most examples of these the plastic speaker grille becomes warped. Finding a replacement pick-up arm shouldn't be too much of a problem as it is a fairly common Garrard type. These Precedent tablegams date from around early 1950 and were sold new through to 1952. Heavy steel needle 78 rpm pick-up arms were used right up until the advent of LP grams a couple of years later. Precedent radios & radiograms were relatively cheap and aimed at the bottom end of the market. The Precedent radiograms cabinets of the 1950's used cheap veneers and lacked the quality of the major brands. They seemed to perform ok though and easy to service.

Now to change tracks a little bit-

I've been attempting some research on A.W. Jackson Industries, the makers of Precedent radios, grams & televisions. There is some confusion as to whether their products were made in Melbourne or Sydney - or if indeed both! What is known is that A.W. Jackson started off in 1940 as A.W. Jacksons Metals of Sturt St. Sth. Melbourne, just a few doors down from the Astor complex. After the war A.W. Jackson Metals were manufactring the Democrat radio from their Sth. Melbourne factory for a couple of years.

In 1951 A.W. Jackson appeared in Sydney at Crown St., Surry Hills. In 1953 they took over the Breville factory in Missenden Rd., Camperdown. The 1954 AORSM has Breville & Precedent sharing the same models. In 1960 A.W. Jackson moved to The Crescent, Annandale and remained there for the next 10 or so years. The factory site in Annandale as far as I know still stands

Back in Melbourne A.W. Jacksons Sturt St. factory was taken over by Astor in 1956 and A.W. Jackson moved in to Astors old printing works site in Sth. Yarra. Astor refurbished A.W. Jacksons old 153 Sturt St. factory which became Astors record division. Next door at 159 Astor built the modernistic 10 floor Astor House in 1958. Later on in the early 1960's A.W. Jackson moved again to the Gainsborough cabinets (owned by Astor) site in Nth. Fitzroy.

In the dying days of local manufacturing of electronic consumer goods in this country A.W. Jackson met its demise at a place I've just recently learned was called Electronics City, Concord Rd., Rhodes. I believe Electronics City was also a Astor/Philips concern.

A.W Jacksons involvement with Astor goes back to 1956, if not before. I'm not sure if it is a coincidence that A.W Jackson & Astor were close neighbours going back to 1940. Astors Warner & Abrahams were well know for setting up/taking over companies left, right & centre and it wouldn't surprise me if A.W. Jacksons was one of them.

I'm constantly surprised at how often research into other companies ends up leading back to Electronics Industries / Astor.
I had a closer look at the ownership history of 443 Concord Road Rhodes and it was owned by Philips Industries in the 1970's and 1980's. However, they acquired the site when they took over Astor in 1970 and I have found references to that address in 1969 Astor advertising.

Synchronicity?? Or do dealers watch this forum and respond? No sooner have you noted the Astor connection to Precedent radiograms than this very similar Astor appears on the same auction site. At 500% of the price. Plus another one for $390 ??

Seems to have had a turntable transplant? or were bakelite models like this still selling in the early microgroove market?

Astor bakelite radiogram.

Maven

HI

Watch it and see how many months it goes unsold for. I have been doing that to the Philips Model I spoke about in another thread. I think its been re-listed 4 times now. I am unsure who pays that much for the radios. I would like to meet them because I have a few that I would gladly get rid of for that price

Dan

Looks to me like it's being sold by a dealer who probably has a bricks-and-mortar shop and can leave the thing in stock until some starry-eyed art deco fan falls in love with it.

Let's face it - people pay three times that amount just to upgrade their phone to the latest model.

There's been a bit of media buzz recently about resurgence of interest in vinyl records, so perhaps a new generation are entering the gramophone market.

Maven

I just noticed the photo of the inspection certificate on the power cord. I'm surprised that bakelite plug was passed.

I believe in NSW they are considered unsafe because they can crack easily.

This is the thing about lead tagging and what a farce it ultimately is.

All a lead tag states is that a lead and any plugs and sockets attached to it are in an electrically sound condition at the time the tag was attached. With this, in NSW at least, flexible cords and plugtops are not required to be replaced unless they exhibit a fault. The standards that applied at the time the appliance was manufactured are deemed the current standard in that regard. If a lead or plug are faulty and require replacement then and only then are they required to meet the standard in force at the time of replacement - ie: double-insulated flex and insulated pins, etc.

This is why I simply cut the cord off any radio I sell. There's no way I'd sign my life away on an item I no longer had control over and I'd never tag a lead that is 50 years old, no matter what condition it was in.

The Astor Super Six in question is a model RK dating from 1956. It is one of the last Bakelite models made by Astor.

There is another potentially hazardous trap with these & other Astors from the same era. The output transformer casing is isolated from the chassis & is tied to the HT. A nasty bite could await the unwary & inexperienced restorer.

Good to know. I acquired one from a big antique shop in Adelaide two years ago and is still waiting to be restored. Why Astor would have done something so daft is beyond comprehension.