If you're an uncompromising collector of antique technology, make sure to check out all my listings after you look at this one. I don't think you'll find a better, broader or more balanced assortment of technical antiques anywhere -- hundreds of listings each year, almost all of them featuring eye-popping "gee whiz" gadgetry in exceptional original condition. And don't forget, you can click this link to quickly add and then save me to your favorite seller list and Ebay will automatically send you updates when I put similar new listings online.
Though he's best known as one of the founders of the Wireless Specialty Apparatus Company, Col. John Firth was also the founder and president of John Firth & Company, whose eminently collectible Firco branded radio components -- produced in very limited numbers for only a few years -- were among the most handsome and best built wireless apparatus manufactured by anyone in the early 20's.
The 41-A Vocaphone offered here is one of only four or five examples known. The radio's overall condition is excellent, close to mint, and the receiver is distinguished by many features, but perhaps the most unusual is its tube deck, which is tethered to a sort of elevator -- controlled by rods on either side of the panel opening -- that can raise and lower the tube, as needed, for tube changes and inspections of filament continuity.
Under the panel, the parts (all of them original) are like new, the build quality is exceptional, and the wiring is straight and true. The Firth headphones secured inside the lid have good drivers and -- like the radio -- they're in exceptional condition.
This radio is not for everyone, but if you think it might be for you, you should consider bookmarking the listing, because you'll likely never an opportunity to purchase another one.
Comes with a good amber glass 1 amp UV-201 tube. It's the same tube that you see and hear in the video I've posted above. Please note that in the video, the radio is coupled to a vintage amplifier, without which it would not be able to power a loudspeaker, just its vintage headphones, which of course are included (though the amplifier and Burns horn speaker are not).
Shipping weight, properly packed, will be about 15 lb.
I'm one of ebay's best known, most highly regarded sellers of antique radios, and I specialize in radios from the 1920's. I've been selling and shipping them for more than 25 years. When you purchase an antique radio from me, you'll receive a radio that arrives safely because it's been carefully packed (by me, not by some well-intentioned but nonetheless confounded, doe-eyed teenager working at the UPS store who wouldn't know a radio from a radiator), Sure, you can probably get a lower price from Joe and Janet Barn-Find, but when your "bargain" arrives broken, and without any hint of how you might be able to put it back together, you'll realize that you really do get exactly what you pay for.