I thought some folks might be interested in a Parker desk set radio, this one made by Motorola. Unfortunately, I only have this ephemera, which is either an ad or possibly a page from a dealer catalog. When I got it, it also had the salesman's business card, which is one of the scans below.

This set was marketed by Motorola as the "VIP". It came with a Parker 51 pen and pencil set. The ad notes that Motorola is celebrating a quarter century of electronics progress, which would place the year as 1953. The scans below are the two sides of the ad, along with the business card noted earlier.

Has anyone ever seen one of these in the flesh? If so, what's the market value? I would love to locate one.

All the best,
John Danza

Way cool. I want the one that has the ashtray in the middle.

Oooooooooooo Want One

Thanks for sharing Anybody seen one in the flesh?

Jim

Woot!! i want one! It's too cool for words!

I would LOVE to have one of those on my desk!!

All I can say is..
'I want the pen, NOT the radio'.

I am very far from appreciating the retro electronics look. In my view radio's should be heard not seen, and the smaller/more discreet the better.

Children on the other hand, should be neither heard nor seen.

Regards

Richard.

You've got to be kidding me! I saw one of these just a few days ago (well, probably more like a week or two now). I have to go back after work and see if it's still there. All for the grand price of $15. Writing instruments not included, of course.

I very nearly bought it, as I have a fascination with old radios. I'm an amateur radio operator, and that led into collecting old radio sets. I wish I had known exactly what this was, it would have come home with me in a heartbeat!

Please post a photo as soon as you have it!

Ha! Should have known...sold! $10 and a cigar box bought it, too.... One of these days I learn, if there's ANY chance I want something at the antique shop...just buy it!!

I do rather like the 61/barometer set in DocNib's post in the Marketplace, too...another rather fetching piece. (No affiliation, blah blah.) I need to be on the lookout for this Motorola piece again, though. (Does lightning strike twice? I mean, it could, right?)

I did some web searching and found a single website that had one of these for sale. They wanted $79 for one in decent looking shape, and it still had the pen and pencil. I ordered it and hope to have it by the end of the week. I'll be out of town from Friday through Monday, but when I have the thing I'll take some photos and post them here.

Tell me where you live so the Wet Squad can arrange a break in to relieve you of the burden of it

Hello all,

I got the radio desk set late last week and have finally had some time to work with it. It's quite a cool set, although it shows its age. The photos are below. I didn't have time to set up the background properly, so hopefully you can make everything out ok.

The pen and pencil are 51 Specials in black, and both work fine. The radio is an old tube type, which is to be expected from the early 1950s. The radio and clock work perfectly as well. It's funny, because the radio takes a little while to come on while the tubes warm up. A real blast from the past.

I hope you enjoy the photos. Don't be surprised if this shows up at the Chicago Pen Show.

All the best,
John

Full shot of radio desk set



Closeup of the radio



Closeup of the left side of the set, showing a blank plaque that may have been available for engraving.



Closeup of the right side of the set, showing the perpetual calendar. You slide the number panel over so the dates correspond correctly to the days of the week for the current month.

John,

Nice Catch! That is very neat. Wish I was going to be in Chicago to see it.

Phil

Awww, that's cute!!!

What's the sound like on the radio? Does it have that old muffled OTR sound, or is it crisp and modern?

That is too cool!

Closeup of the left shide of the set, showing the perpetual calendar. You slide the number panel over so the dates correspond correctly to the days of the week for the current month.

Ahem...You mean...RIGHT side...yeah?

Chicago? Corporate headquarters of Motorola? Don't be surprised with all of the comments about the "good old days" at the show...

Yep, my bad. It was late last night. I edited the post.

I took some better photos over the weekend, which are posted below. I tried to edit the original post with the photos to replace them with these, but the "edit" button wasn't there. Sorry for the double post.

The full set



Closeup of the radio



Right side of set, showing the perpetual calendar (is there a different name for this?)



Left side of set, showing the indica plate