TRANSISTOR RADIO DESIGN
Focusing on the design of pocket transistor radios manufactured during the 1950's & 1960's!
CROWN TR-670
This is the celebrated Crown TR-670 from 1959. Made in Japan and featuring kick ass design straight off the top shelf! This radio absolutely rocks! Crown made some extremely rare and truly legendary radios during the late 1950’s. In my humble opinion Crown is the only radio manufacturer who can compete with the grandiose designs unleashed by Toshiba during the golden age of transistor radio design.
The manufacturing company behind the Crown brand name was Asahi Radio Co of Japan. I know virtually nothing about Asahi.
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You may have noticed that my red Crown has SIXTRANSISTORS stamped below the chevron as opposed to SIXTRANSISTOR on my black Crown. The red is the earlier of the two. This seems to be a common theme amongst examples that I've seen with TRANSISTOR V TRANSISTORS split about 50/50.
These Crowns feature absolutely divine, rich under-painted face's with lavish gold chevron's and red diamond cut tuning dials! S I X T R A N S I S T O R is written as one word in a very contemporary manner. The textured metal speaker grill is enhanced with the addition of sparkling gold cloth beneath it and it also features a regal little red and gold cloisonné badge in the bottom left corner.
This is pure art design fused with fashion and embodied in the form of vintage electronics!
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BOX & ACCESSORIES!
This regal Crown TR-670 comes with a very groovy gift box, leather carry case, leather earphone case, earphone and a vintage Eveready battery. I doubt that the leather case was ever used as it still has the cardboard insert inside.
This Crown TR-670 is marked inside the cabinet as being a “Product of Shriro Incorporated New York”
Shriro Incorporated is an International Marketing and Distribution Company founded in China in 1906. They are privately owned and have been under the direction of one family since 1909. They established their first international office in Yokohama Japan in 1917. From 1945 Shriro expanded rapidly throughout South East Asia and Canada. During the late 1950’s and possibly into the 1960’s Shriro had an office in New York. Shriro is still going strong today!
I would be interested in what information other collectors have found inside their Crown radios.
The vintage Eveready battery that came with this radio features instructions on its use which I’ve not seen before!
