The iconic HMV 902 is widely considered England’s most unusual pre-war television and dates to 1937. Combining a television with a radio and auto-change gramophone, it was also one of the very first television-based entertainment centres in the world.
Sporting fabulous art Deco lines this set was the top of the range machine for HMV and cost an eye watering 120 guineas (£126) when new. In comparison in 1937 an Austin 7 car cost £131 and a Morris 8 cost £139. Despite the over-sized case, it merely incorporated a 9 inch vertically mounted cathode ray tube which reflected into a 14 inch magnifying screen. Don’t be misled though- this is extremely heavy and over-manufactured.
Although a production run of 100 of these machines were initially planned, problems with the magnifier meant only 11 were apparently ever made. Today the early television archive run by www.earlytelevision.org records that only 6 complete examples of this machine are known to still exist (including this one) of which half are held in museums. This is naturally an extremely rare item.
This example is formerly from the collection of noted early television collector, historian and dealer Michael Bennet-Levy and remained his most prized TV despite amassing an amazing collection. As his favourite, this set features on the front cover of his 1993 book ‘Historic Televisions & Video Recorders’, is featured in silhouette several times in his 1994 Television documentary ‘TV is King’ (which can be viewed via You-tube here) as well as illustrated within his book of the same name.
Pre-war televisions by definition are extremely rare and the HMV 902 is arguably one of the most unusual and iconic of that production era. This example is offered in amazing untouched and unrestored condition and even retains its original paper control instructions around the knobs. Due to its rarity this set will not be restored nor be tested by me, and it is very important to note that due to the high voltages required by these early TVs and the fact they used a live chassis, this TV must never be tested except by an experienced and qualified individual.
The price excludes international shipping.
