How to Buy or Sell — Phonographs & Records, Radios, Television Sets & Computers

Phonographs, phonograph records, radios, and even television sets are popular collectibles. Early phonographs are stocked in some shops; later models are now important because they are needed to play the music. The item must be in good working condition to be of value. “Crossover” examples, those wanted by collectors of another type of antique, are worth more than might be suspected and are worth restoring. For instance, Barbie’s Vanity Fair record player sold at auction in 1989 for $760. An old Hopalong Cassidy radio can be worth $1,100. A 1946 Emerson Bakelite Model 5768 radio sold for $250 in 2019. And the Walter Teague Sparton blue mirror radio, Model 557 with the “sled” design, sold for $ 4,700 to $6,500. The round blue mirror radio is even more expensive and has been reproduced.