Ultra Tiger 3.

[Paula A]

Are you sure?.. All the Tiger models have the centre knob (guessing thats the tuning) above the outer pair. The ac version Blue Fox is the only one in my data with this control layout (square cabinet but with same speaker grill). I can't find a picture of the Tiger Three Midget which this may be.

I guess we will find out exactly what it is when (and if) Joe decides to buy it and we get more pictures. A good estimate I would guess for an unseen auction item would be about £30 and no more, assuming it is (apart from the missing knob) complete..

[Andrewausfa]

From Radio! Radio!

Andrew

[Joe]

Thanks for that Andrew.

It's viewing day on Thursday morning so I should know more thereafter.

My idea of value accords with Paula's.

- Joe

[Steve_P]

1 Guinea = 1 Pound One Shilling. This would be £1.05 in today's money.

Therefore..

15 Guines = 1 Pound 15 Shillings. which works out at £15,75.

That would be the 1930 price, in 2010 this would be £770.00 !!

Most people would rent or buy on HP.

Cheers,

Steve P

[Yorkie]

Yes it is.

I wonder what the fifteen guineas has become over the last eighty years?

- Joe

£800!

There are lots of historical inflation websites on the net, using a range of indices, which come up with a range of results. The one that I've found to be resonable from my own perception is this one:

http://safalra.com/other/historical-uk-i...onversion/

If anyone wishes too, they can embed the inflation calculator 'gizmo' in their own website.

Even £800 may not seem a big deal in todays terms - I guess the modern equivelent of home entertainment would be say a 42" HD flat screen digital TV. Many will buy such equipment almost on impulse. However, back in the 1930s, ordinarly people had very little disposable income, and no welfare state to keep them afloat, and such a radio would, I think, be beyond the means of the average family. A look at Radio Times for the 1930s will reveal the highbrow audience that the broadcasters were catering for. Old habits die hard - even as late as the 1970s, BBC newsreaders spoke in RP accents, and some might argue that a few still do.

'Radio Radio!' the Jonathan Hill book, has a picture of the Tiger 3 identical to yours. It's described as 1931, 3 Valve plus rectifier AC only TRF, 'midget' table model, which pushes the boundaries of what constitutes 'midget' given that it is 17.5" tall, 16" wide and 9.5" deep! The cabinet is described as walnut veneered ply, and it cover Medium and Long Wave. I'm a member of 'Radiomusem' and have e-mailed Joe a copy of the circuit, which I believe may relate to the set. The circuit looks like it might be the right one, as it's an AC only three valve + rectifier, LW/MW TRF.

Best of luck in the Auction Joe. If you don't win it, you might find that the person that does, only wanted the clock as part of the same lot - they could keep the clock - you could do a deal with them on the radio!

[Paula A]

A bit off topic David.. There was a "social" in the 1930's. Orwell was scathing of how the "dole" operated in his essay "The Road to Wigan Pier". Rather like todays situation it was means tested and a source of fantastic hardship and suffering, taking peoples homes away and smashing up families.

BTW.. Radio Radio contains a few glaring errors. As an example it has a photo described as a Scott Taggart ST 600 which is actually the ST Supergram Deluxe fitted in a cabinet without a turntable. (the Supergram Deluxe used the ST 400 chassis layout with additional volume control specifically for the record deck, radio used the reaction control for volume.. rather archaic). The photo they use is from the only company I know of who actually manufactured these sets on any kind of commercial sale (S-T designed for home constructors mostly) which was run in Hereford by my Grandfather and one Willaim Birch from a small workshop/shop on Eign Gate from 1925 to 1934 building complete sets and also fitting them into existing pieces of furniture (more common in those days than people might guess) When other chainstore retailers started up selling affordable commercial sets in town they seem to have closed as ST designs were by then rather outdated and "top end". As a small local concern they don't seem to have had the wherewithall to tool up for metal chassis mass production. Maybe a matter of space, or possibly it wasn't as lucrative as it might have been once there was commercial scale competition. So if anybody comes across a Scott Taggart or Round/Marconi breadboard design set which is signed WJ Powell/W Birch on the baseboard with a date in the late 20's - early 30's now you know where it comes from. Before that they made sets to the Round/Marconi based designs being boxes and breadboards using various circuits which I think my Grandfather had a lot to do with designing and modifying. Grandfather was a Signaller in WW1 and had his "wireless" knowledge from then. William Birch had a son, Fred who I remember working on TV and Radio repairs in the same area until the late 70's. The shop is still standing and now a Post Office if anybody wants to go and have a look at a piece of radio history in the outlands.

In my Grandmothers house in my childhood memories is a large 8 valve "wireless" on a flat board with a black front panel with batteries, a large glass accumulator and a multitude of knobs which my Grandmother could work though it was completely beyond me how she did it. It lived in the back bedroom and there were speakers scattered through the house with their own switches. I'm not going to mention her TV except to say it was in 3 boxes!!!

[Joe]

I viewed this on Thursday and it didn't look bad. It had about half an inch of the old cotton-covered flex on but as the end was frayed it looked like it hadn't seen any juice for a while so at least nobody had tested it before selling it.

Two of the back-retaining screws were rusted in place but I managed to open it enough to see that everything was there.

It was lotted with a fairly bog-standard clock which I thought was worth about about twenty quid so I left a bid of fifty and it did eighty; I haven't posted before as I've been waiting to find out how much it made but the auctioneers have been a bit dilatory in posting the results.

To be honest I'm pleased I didn't get it as it would have been a challenge to deal with and lack of VHF and a weird Gram socket would have limited its usefulness. I'm currently expecting a Bush VHF70 which is much more my thing. :wink:

- Joe

PS As this thread has now gone well away from my initial data request perhaps it would be better elsewhere. I've just tried to do it myself but obviously can't. Old habits and all that.

[Paula A]

Where were you thinking of moving it Joe? I normally let topics die a natural death and drift down the listings.

[Joe]

I'm not very bothered, it just seemed a bit odd that something this size was in the Service Data section. The Vintage Valve & Transistor Radios section would seem more appropriate. I must have been spending too long over the wall.

- Joe

[Mark R]

Joe, I moved it yesterday lol.

cheers Mark