Estes Auctions -- The Earl England Collection
Burbank, Ohio -- September 24, 2005

REPORTED BY RAY CHASE

Web Edition

The September 24, 2005, Estes auction at the Expo Auction Center dealt with the collection of the late Earl England of Los Angeles, along with an additional Midwest collection. Several radios were unique to the West Coast and had been seldom seen in the East. The offering was heavy in early wireless, phonograph items, tubes, nice Ham gear, advertising displays, books and ephemera.

This was a quality sale, and preauction speculation was that the total realized would come close to a quarter of a million dollars. The total that I recorded actually added up to $225,100, so factoring in the 5 percent buyer's premium and the fact that I missed some items indicated that the speculation was not far off. Mary England and her daughter Dee were present to observe the proceedings.

A number of early wireless items brought very good prices. Examples are a Marconi 106D with the original crystal, selling at $11,000; a Wireless Specialty Navy SE-95, selling at $18,000; and a pair of IP-500s, selling at $4,000 and $6,500 respectively.

Auction items were examined closely by the prospective buyers during the preview period.

Among the early battery sets were a pair of DeForest Interpanels, selling at $2,000 and $3,500; a Federal 9 amp, at $2,400; and a Price DA-3 at $3,200.

The price history of the 7-tube Westinghouse station monitor that sold for $6,500 is interesting. A.R.C. auction reports of recent years show fluctuating prices. The same item sold in 2001 at the Muchow Auction for $8,000, but in 2002 at the Thorn auction, the winning bid was $5,000.

Four Atwater Kent breadboards sold for from $1,000 to $1,600. And among the interesting horn speakers was a Voice-from-the-Sky pottery horn speaker selling at $2,800

The Atwater Kent Model 1 breadboard, left, sold for $1,500 and the Connecticut Telephone & Telegraph Sodion DR-6 receiver and D-11-1 2-step amplifier sold for $3,500. The Sodion tube has an open filament.

A warning: Auction prices are not current values. Our selection of auction items is not necessarily complete. A listing such as this cannot adequately include the condition of cabinets, chassis, transformers, tubes, the operating status of the set, and the inclusion of incorrect, restored or replica components, etc. Auction prices are the result of the excitement of the auction process, the skill of the auctioneer and the specific interests of the participants. Nevertheless, auction prices serve as useful references and as another element in the value determining process. The possibility of error always exists, and if we are notified, corrections will be reported.

There was an unusually large crowd at the Friday evening viewing, obviously drawn by the advance advertising. As usual, additional consignments were coming in Friday evening, and on Saturday morning, many low value, box lots of tubes were added. Several side auctions of box lots and low value items that I did not record were conducted on Saturday afternoon.

On Saturday there was a good turnout of over 100 registered bidders. Although there was a large selection of ephemera, I was not able to record most of it as it was sold "choice," which makes keeping track of it very difficult. The same was true for most of the book selections. I stopped recording at 5:00 p.m. when there were about 12 items left. However, I had missed quite a few tube lots towards the end of the auction while I was checking out myself. All in all, this was a very noteworthy auction.

More nice Wireless Specialty equipment -- a rare SE-95 Navy set from 1917 flanked by two IP-500s. These sets sold for $18,000, $4,000 and $6,500. The SE-95 was the top dollar item in the auction.

e=excellent, vg=very good, g=good, f=fair, p=poor, unk=unknown condition, N.O.S.=new old stock, wk=working, nwk=not working, WT=with tubes, NT=no tubes, BB=brass based, TT=tipped tube, gf=good filament, SW=shortwave, PS=power supply, PB=push buttons, WE=Western Electric. All prices have been rounded down to the dollar. Some low cost items and items in poor condition or without specific descriptions are omitted. See print version of A.R.C. for complete auction listing.

(Ray Chase, 1350 Marlborough Ave., Plainfield, NJ 07060; Estes Auctions, 7404 Ryan Rd., Medina, OH 44256; (888) 769-4992; estesauctions@aol.com)