Sunday, Jan. 23, 2011 — Due to an extreme lack of funds I have avoided eBay at all costs lately — though I did buy some incidentals recently (ear bugs, dog leash, etc.). No new bugs, though I certainly have drooled over several auctions in the process of “avoiding” eBay, hi!
One of my pre-New Year’s eBay acquisitions was a really neat 1940 Allied catalogue (click image at right to enlarge). What I wouldn’t give to have been a ham in that period (1930s to 1940)! The cover of the catalogue is what really struck me — what a beautiful, simple setting! The microphone, at first blush, looks like an Astatic D-104, but it isn’t; its a Shure 70ST crystal mic on a period Art Deco base.
The key is the McElroy S-600 “Stream” key, and a rather unique one at that. Check out the pivot frame — the surface of it is flat with grooves. I have never seen one like the one in this picture, though obviously they exist somewhere. I have also posted in my photo gallery a scan of the page with McElroy products, which include the “regular” style Mac Key, and the Mac Key DeLuxe with the “marbelite” finish. The Mac Key had been in the McElroy product line since 1935; the S-600 was a new model. I don’t know how much actual overlap there was, but I’m thinking the S-600 in the photograph may have been a prototype or an early production model.
I also scanned the Speed-X portion of the CW Keys page, and its interesting to note the model they show in the 1940 catalog. The art they used may have been wrong, but the key they show is the old “reverse T” frame key that is often described by collectors as an “early Speed-X key.” The reverse T key had no label, and featured a very unusual pivot frame. The regular “T” Speed-X model 500 or 501 is not found in the catalog (at least the artwork isn’t there), so it makes you wonder if there was an omission in the art department, an error, or if the “T handle” Speed-X was still in production at the time. Or perhaps Allied simply chose to carry these selected products. Its interesting that they did not carry Vibroplex keys!
More to come after I get more scanned from the catalogue …