1930s Roberts radio - ID and info please

[ppppenguin]

I recently acquired this Roberts radio. Presumably 1930s. I can't immediately see any information about it online. It's cosmetically very rough but the valves look pristine.

Not really my sort of thing but I couldn't let it get chucked in a skip.

PS: I should have looked in Radio! Radio! It's a Roberts M4B from 1936. Claimed to be the smallest portable then on the market. Cost 9 guineas.

PPS: There seems to be some disagreement as to whether it's MB4 or M4B.

[Mike Watterson]

I'd assumed it was an MB4. However it could be something else. Or both. Pye often had multiple model names for the same item. However M4B suits the way other models are named and it's got no mains option. I can't remember what Radio! Radio! wrote, though it does have some mistakes!

M4Q, approx 1937, no mains. https://www.radiomuseum.org/r/roberts_m4q.html
M5A, approx 1939, only mains. https://www.radiomuseum.org/r/roberts_m5am_5.html

Iconic speaker fret, though no shortage of teapot themed radios though this is probably meant to represent Aladdin's Lamp, a design actually most used by the Romans, not by Arab tellers of Aladdin tale.

https://www.radiomuseum.org/r/roberts_mb4_mb_4.html
It might have been the smallest portable radio with a speaker in the UK in 1936. The headphone socket likely is HT to Anode for 2K + 2K in series. My 1929 McMichael is like that.

I was never able to get one when I was actively collecting portable valve sets. My oldest Roberts is maybe 1946.

Bad with cold. Hope above makes sense.

[ppppenguin]

R!R! says MB4 in the index and M4B on the main entry. Hardly surprising that others are confused.

It's not as bad as I thought. The hinges are completely missing and the speaker cloth is ripped but otherwise not too bad. It's even got the key for locking latches.

As I said, it's not one for me. To be sold (at Retrotech or elsewhere) to raise funds for the BECG.

[Paul_RK]

Yes, an M4B (1936): the 1934 M4 was similar in appearance but can be recognised by its bent-sausage-shaped tuning dial simply calibrated 0-100, and the 1937 M4Q, the earliest Roberts set I have, was the first model to abandon the suitcase style in favour of the upright form with lid covering the controls.

https://groups.io/g/robertsradiogroup

has photographs of them all. Should be able to raise a useful sum with this set, early Roberts models are scarce - the company was small - and the very few I've seen sold haven't been at all cheap. I think the Wayfarer Minor was still around in 1936 - my example is currently in hiding somewhere,  but here's a leaflet on it - in which case the M4B wasn't close to being the smallest set on the market.

Paul

       

[ppppenguin]

Paul, thanks for all the information.

[Paul_RK]

Iconic speaker fret, though no shortage of teapot themed radios though this is probably meant to represent Aladdin's Lamp, a design actually most used by the Romans, not by Arab tellers of Aladdin tale.

Aladdin's lamp indeed: it features too on Roberts' extremely rare 1933 table model, also pictured at the Roberts group, and it lived on as their chosen emblem for a little longer. Here's the enamel badge that appears inside the 1937 M4Q's lid, and the design that replaced it seen inside the lid of a 1946 P5A.

       

[Kalee20]

In the Museum of Brands, London, there's one which is in excellent condition, at least cosmetically - and it has the original guarantee card with it on display! I took a photo last week, as a model to try and acquire if possible - then found this thread.

This definitely shows it as M4B, setting the argument about M4B or MB4! (Though it has full stops in it, thus M.4.B.)

[PerdioPal]

Good museum that one https://museumofbrands.com/ , lots of radios and TVs lots of all things too. I know I am getting old when I see something in a museum I use daily! Cake in the café is very good i,e, full of cream, sugar, etc..