On the side of the road. It’s a Grundig, though I have no Earthly idea what that means except it’s German.
It’s got four legs and the radio part of it opens up from the top. The record player (you can set it to play 16s, 33s, 45s, or 78s) is on the left side of the top, and there’s a place on the right to store other records. The bottom of the front opens up (for I guess more sound or to put stuff?). There is no tape player as near as I can figure. And the whole thing is 4 or so feet wide by about 2.5 feet tall and about as as deep. We didn’t measure it, but it was a big honkin’ radio (among other things).
But there is no year and I have no idea how much it’s worth. I’m tempted to think it isn’t worth anything because it’s been tossed out, but this area is decently wealthy (people will buy a new couch because they like the look, not because they need one, for example) and I’ve run into things before that got tossed and worked just fine. I don’t have a portable power source or I’d see if it worked (and it’s rather heavy).
The radio, in fact (I just remembered) has various country’s names on it (which I think is so you can tune to various nationalities’ radio stations) such as England, France, Vatican, S. Africa, Tangier and Hawaii. Other countries include Venezuela, Colombia, Ecuador, Mexico, Canada, Switzerland . . . there are a lot.
So I’m stuck. Should I let this thing go to the trash crew or take it away and try to use/sell it? Assuming, of course, that it works.
I’ll suggest a good place to get more information about the value of your find is a posting to the rec.antiques.radio+phono USENET group. (Because it can play 33 rpm records, it is no older than the 1950s).
It’s free! Take it! Even if it doesn’t work you could use it for something.
Free=Good.
What you’ve found is an extremely good example of an era gone by. Grundig make some of the best audio equipment in the world, and the fact that this thing is so large and holds LPs means that it’s fairly old. Unless I miss my guess, this thing is a shortwave reciever as well as a record player. That’s what the different cities signify, and it should have a bandwidth indicator as well.
I did a Google on “grundig record player” and got a bunch of responses. If it’s from the 50s-60s, then you’re looking at something that’s selling on auction sites for about 500-600 USD. If it’s from the 70s, then about 300. Even if it doesn’t work, it can probably be repaired. Any chance of a picture of this thing?
I am quite sure that if you did a search on any search engine, you would find that Grundig is a quality manufacturer of portable shortwave radios.
I did not know that they made items such as you describe.
My best guess is that someone might be willing to pay pretty good money for what may be a collector’s item.
Another (even better!) suggestion: go to eBay and search their site for “Grundig” and you will get a quick idea of how rare your find is, and what the market is willing to pay for it.
Sounds like what we used to call a ‘Radiogram’.
They were furniture as much as hifi.
Does it have FM on it ? It would seem to be pre 1970 if it has no cassette player, and not having FM would confirm it.
Never assume that something is worthless just becuase it
was in the trash. My mother and father are antique dealers. I sell collectible toys. Mom and I once got a chair out of someone’s trash and took it straight to our stand at the antique market. We sold it the same day for $80. I bought a Kiss metal trashcan for $1 at a yard sale. That sold for $125. The buyer’s only question was “Can you hold this for me while I go tap the ATM?”
Replicas of old Grundig short-wave radio models are currently being sold for hundreds of dollars. You’ve probably seen the ads in magazines such as Smithsonian, American History and World Press Review.