This sturdy Roland 'All Transistor' 66 came to me in 2013 from Avon Lake, Ohio, population 22000. Not too many of these radios have survived; having a leather clad case is inherently risky as the leather drys out and cracks, the stitching comes apart, they're prone to staining, not particularly waterproof and they generally just degenerate quickly if they're not looked after. I use a leather shoe conditioner on these radios to spruce them up. It is common to find the leather strap missing on this model. 

This radio features a large chunk of under-painted plastic crowning the genuine leather cowhide case. It is quite impressive and rare to find this on American made transistor radios. Roland used this feature on several of their later radios to great effect as did Emerson - their model 555 features an entirely reverse-painted back! A few Zenith and Emerson tube portables also incorporated this feature. The reason for reverse painting plastic is to give it a unique perspective of depth and color; it really pops! It looks particularly regal in gold. Many collectors mistakenly believe this was an exclusively Japanese manufacturing technique as so many of their stunning radios were made with this feature.  

The volume and tuning dials are comprised of a brass disc bordered by plastic. There is a knight motif under-painted between the two dials - this is after all the 'aristocrat of radios'! The tuning dial has the two civil defense triangles that regulations stipulated must be on all radios manufactured between 1953 and 1963; during the early days of the cold war. In an emergency all United States television and FM radio stations were required to shut down. The AM stations that remained on air would transmit on either 640 or 1240 kHz for several minutes and then go off the air and another station would take over the frequency in a repetitive chain. This was to confuse enemy aircraft who might be navigating using 'radio direction finding'. 

The Roland 'All Transistor' 66 measures 4.75 x 6.25 x 2.62 inch  / 121 x 159 x 67 mm. It has an earphone jack on the left side. The leather carry straps are attached to brass hinges and directed through two slots on the side of the under-painted plastic crown. This design feature has probably contributed to the loss of these straps as this is where they rub and deteriorate the most. The speaker grill is cut directly into the leather with sparkling silver cloth behind it. This is matched on the back of the radio where there is a second smaller grill cutout using the same silver material. 

When this little coat pocket radio was sold in 1956 the world was a very different place. Transistor radio design was heavily influenced by the space race, fashion and automobile manufacturers. The rapidly evolving transistor radio industry was given a boost by the rock n roll revolution that was now in full swing! Elvis had just released Heartbreak Hotel and embarked on a nationwide tour. Other chart toppers included Chuck Berry (Roll Over Beethoven), Little Richard (Rip It Up), Fats Domino (I'm In Love Again), Carl Perkins (Blue Suede Shoes) and The Platters (One In A Million). Perhaps this radio was purchased at a Drug Store by a hardworking young man or woman who then drove to the riverside in their families Plymouth Belvedere before sitting under a tree and listening to the latest tunes with their friends. I would like to think that all of those artists mentioned above played on this radio sometime during their heyday. 

Other noteworthy events of 1956 included: 

• The marriage of movie icon Grace Kelly to Prince Rainier of Monaco.
• Heavyweight Boxing World Champion Rocky Marciano retires with a perfect record of 49 & 0.
• The first computer hard drive was invented by IBM. It weighed a ton and stored 5MB of data.
• The Federal-Aid Highway Act was signed into law by President Eisenhower.