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Dec
7th
Vintage Radio Swap Meet
Mark Notermann

Flea Markets. Church Bazaars. Garage Sales. Charity Stores. They all hold the promise of serendipity--the unique find that went overlooked or under-appreciated by everyone--everyone but you, the intrepid hunter. All too often, the actual events fail to deliver on the expected promise.

Last weekend, while running some errands, I could not resist the beckoning call of a small A-board sign on a neighborhood street: VINTAGE RADIO SWAP MEET. I saw a parking lot full of stuff and quickly pulled over to see what was going on.



Happily, I discovered the sign was not only true, but a bit of an understatement. I had just stumbled on the annual official swap event put on by the Puget Sound Antique Radio Association.

There were indeed vintage radios. Lots of them.

So many of these are great relics of American industrial design from the past that fused form and function in expressions of unbridled optimism. Before there were computers, (much less an internet) the control surfaces provided the basis of the nascent field of user interface design.











I love the typography in the control panels, and I'm also taken by the elegant beauty of vacuum tubes. There were a lot of tubes. Some in open boxes, some neatly organized into original packaging, also worth a look:











Like I said, LOTS of tubes. Also other accessories...need a replacement knob or maybe a new meter for that vintage deck? Look no further:





And along with the radios, a few other technical marvels and assorted curiosities of the analog age, such as a geiger counter (!?)...



...a "Relax-A-cisor" (!?!?!)...



...and ...WHAT? A computer? Heresy!