21-04-2012, 03:38 PM
Hi Paula,
That's true in one direction - some 1945 designs seem to be ones that were in the pipeline in 1939 - but a post-war set's tuning dial can give evidence (unless of course it's been changed) that a set wasn't built in 1939. This one's dial shows BBC West on 514.6 metres: it's a wavelength the BBC first used for Allied Expeditionary Force broadcasting in June 1944, then for BBC West from July 1945 ( http://www.bbceng.info/Technical%20Revie..._nw_6a.pdf ).
I think the evidence is firm for the J. G. Graves brand having reappeared after the war, if only on this model. You may very well be right, though, that there wasn't any distinct post-war Graves manufacturing facility. The history is quite obscure of the other two brands associated with this model or something very like it. Derwent were more prominent before the war than after it, but at least one transistor model carried the Derwent name: Raymond sets are relatively numerous at least into the early '50s but seem to cease abruptly about there.
(21-04-2012, 02:32 PM)Paula A Wrote: ...It's almost impossible to tell a 1939 set from a 1946 one without dated documentation, unless it's a completely new design...
That's true in one direction - some 1945 designs seem to be ones that were in the pipeline in 1939 - but a post-war set's tuning dial can give evidence (unless of course it's been changed) that a set wasn't built in 1939. This one's dial shows BBC West on 514.6 metres: it's a wavelength the BBC first used for Allied Expeditionary Force broadcasting in June 1944, then for BBC West from July 1945 ( http://www.bbceng.info/Technical%20Revie..._nw_6a.pdf ).
I think the evidence is firm for the J. G. Graves brand having reappeared after the war, if only on this model. You may very well be right, though, that there wasn't any distinct post-war Graves manufacturing facility. The history is quite obscure of the other two brands associated with this model or something very like it. Derwent were more prominent before the war than after it, but at least one transistor model carried the Derwent name: Raymond sets are relatively numerous at least into the early '50s but seem to cease abruptly about there.
