Radio Tubes in Boxes from Closing Antique Shop

[Nick in Manitou]

A neighbor has a booth at an antique mall and is closing it after several years of business. 

She says that she has "quite a few" old radio tubes in their original boxes.

She says that she is asking $0.50 each.

That is all I know.

I could ask her for more information if there is interest.

I remember going to the drug store with a bunch of tubes and testing them as a kid, but I am not a collector of radios so I have no idea of the value or uniqueness of what she has.

If you want me to, I could either get you in touch with her, or get them from her and ship them off to you.

Any interest?

Nick

[Nick in Manitou]

One of the forum members has expressed an interest in finding out more about these, so I am going to get the details for him.  I will post the details here too for general interest.

If the person who contacted me does not purchase these, I will let the forum know so that others would have the opportunity if they are interested.

Nick

[Mike C]

Hi Nick

You should tell her to look and see if she has any VT-4-C/211 tubes as they are quite valuable. All the tube amp guys are after them which has made it pretty expensive for one of my projects 

Mike

[twocvbloke]

Well, I can see a fault on one of them there, there's a grenade in it...

[Nick in Manitou]

I am traveling and have not have not heard back from the lady with the antique shop yet.  I am making another attempt to get the information about what she has...sure wish she would respond!

[Russ Kirk]

Well, I can see a fault on one of them there, there's a grenade in it...

Sharp eye!  I missed that the first time. That's funny!

[Mr. Bones]

Yep, 'seen it right off', here, and had a laugh. Used to interact with the M26A1 / M61's a lot...

Always remember: "Once the pin has been pulled, Mr Grenade is no longer our friend"

Check those boxes of tubes closely, and best regards!!

[Nick in Manitou]

Finally!  It took a while to get the information...then it took a while to get the tubes in hand.

It turns out that at least some of them, and perhaps most or all are used.  Some look pretty new to my completely untrained eye and some look pretty dirty.

The forum member who spoke up first has declined to take them on, so they are again available if someone wants to pay shipping from central Ohio.

We are packing up to move back to Manitou Springs, Colorado (so my screen name will make sense again!) and hope to be able to pass these along before they get packed up in the general madness of a move across the country.

The neighbor who had these just said that she had a lot of radio tubes in their boxes, it turns out that: A) They are probably all used, B) Not all of the tubes and boxes match, C) She put 50 cent stickers on all the boxes (I took off the price stickers that came off easily not knowing if the boxes had any value)

Below is a list of the tubes.  I took a photo of the lot and in case it matters to anyone, the list and photo relate in that the first tube on the list is on the left end of the top row and the last tube on the list is on the right end of the bottom row.  The two boxes of buss fuses are part of the lot if you want them.


Tube labeled: Y5E printed and "6AD7" scratched onto the base, plain white box says Zenith 6AD7G
Tube labeled: 6W6GT, Sylvania, box is labeled Silvertone 6K6GT
Tube and Box both labeled: 6BF6, Tung-Sol
Tube and Box both labeled: 6BN4A, Sylvania
Tube labeled: 6SJ7, RCA, Printed box just says "Radio Tube", w/ hand written 6SJ7 on the (loose) end flap
Tube and Box both labeled: 6AL5, Amperex
Tube labeled: 1A7GT, Premier, 52-7, box labeled Concert Master 1A7GT
Tube labeled: 6SF5, RCA Victor, plain brick red box
Tube and box both labeled: 6AB4 Sylvania
Tube and box both labeled: 6DE6, Sylvania
Tube labeled: 6AL5, Silvertone, box labeled, 6AL5 Airline
Tube labeled: 1S5, maybe it said General Electric, box is a rough Tung-Sol box w/ no end flaps
Tube labeled: 6BU8/6HS8Zenith, box is 6HS8, RCA
Tube and box labeled: 6AK5, Sylvania
Tube and box labeled: 6AQ5A, General Electric
Tube and box labeled: 6BH6, Sylvania
Tube and box labeled: 6AH6, Sylvania (box is green/black, not yellow/black like the other Sylvanias)
Tube and box labeled: 6T8A, Sylvania
Tube labeled: K105A, Hytron, printed box just says "Radio Tube"
Tube labeled: 35W4, General Electric, box labeled RCA, 35W4
Tube and box labeled: 12AT7, Raytheon (tube also says Uniline) (Spoken For)
Tube labeled: 6BJ6, Zenith, box labeled 6CB6, Sylvania
Tube labeled 6AU5GT, RCA, box is RCA but missing end flap where ID would be
Tube is black metal, stamped along the long axis "L-55-B" no other marks at all, printed box just says "Radio Tube" with hand written L-55-B on end flap

I hope that someone might be able to use these.  (This is way outside my area of knowledge.)  If I should just scrap them, someone please tell me!

Nick

[Mike C]

Hi Nick

Thank you for taking the time to type out that list. None of those fit my boat anchors but maybe other forum members might have a need them. I did an eBay check and they all seem to go for between .99 and $5.00 tested and working, with the 6SJ7, 6AK5 and 12AT7's hitting around $10. So as they are used and untested I'm not sure if they are worth a whole lot of your time especially if you are busy moving. But seeing as I am still a radio repair noob you might wait for other forum members opinions Thanks again.

Mike

[Nick in Manitou]

Thanks for your input, Mike.  Yes it is beginning to look like these are not in high demand.

One forum member has asked that I send him the 12AT7, so I will strike that one from the list.

I still hope that someone might want the whole lot, but if not I will put them on Craig's List in the Free Stuff category as a last ditch effort.

Nick

[Nick in Manitou]

Since there does not seem to be much interest in this hoard of treasure...I put it on Craigslist and someone has spoken up saying that they are coming to get the lot.

Figured I'd let everyone know.

Nick