Rogers Majestic TEN-60, 1935 3-Band Cathedral Radio in Knechtel Cabinet

Rare and Beautiful 3-Band 7-Tone Wood Cathedral Radio, made by Rogers Majestic Toronto in 1935, in Near Mint and Serviced Condition

Introduction:
This is the second time I came across a radio, that was made by three Canadian companies under different model numbers: Rogers "TEN-60", Majestic "Joliette", and DeForest-Crosley "Connought" ("Connaught"). My first radio is shown in pict.30, saying that 1934 DeForest-Crosley "EARL" (sold) had a Knechtel cabinet too, and was manufactured by the Rogers Majestic Corp. Ltd. Toronto for DeForest Crosley Ltd. with model number 81. Confused - no wonder. I had learned that both, Rogers and Consolidated Industries had DeForest and Crosley licenses for the Canadian market. Anyway the two Toronto radio manufacturers Rogers Majestic and De Forest-Crosley had intimate ties and produced many radios with same chassis. The only reference I found for the Rogers TEN-60 is ref.1 below. The fact that the radio shown there has the same knobs and speaker cloth as mine, indicates that both are original. The cabinet has been made by the famous Knechtel Furniture Co. Ltd. Hanover, Ontario, Canada, and is as pretty as the Connaught shown in ref.2 below. I presume that the chassis had a Rogers model number 26 and TEN-60 refers to the Knechtel cabinet.

Additional information:
1. http://canadianvintageradio.com/PDFfiles/CVRS%20Newsletter%20February%202008%20Final.pdf
2. http://www.indianaradios.com/DeForest%20Crosley%20Connaught%20Connought%20Radio.htm
3. http://www.heritagefdn.on.ca/userfiles/page_attachments/Library/1/1106125_Daniel_Knechtel_ENG.pdf
4. http://www.nostalgiaair.org

For the historians only:
Edward Samuel ("Ted") Rogers (1900-1939): kid telegrapher, invented the first A/C tube, in 1925 established "Canada's First Rogers Batteryless" (CFRB) both, as a radio factory and a broadcast station and in 1928 the Rogers-Majestic Corporation, in 1934 acquired Consolidated Industries, which built DeForest-Crosley Radios in Canada, in 1933 created the Spray-Shield Tube which eliminated the need for protective tube cans, and conducted the first public demonstration of television in Toronto, died much too early at age 38. His five years old son of same name was too young to follow his father's footsteps, perhaps to his advantage, since the future President and CEO of Rogers Communications Inc., who died two weeks ago on Dec. 2^nd at age 75, was the fourth richest person in Canada in terms of net worth. Father and son in 2006, were inducted into Canada's Telecommunications Hall of Fame.
Lee de Forest (1873-1961): "father of radio" and "grandfather of television", invented the Audion tube in 1906, in 1934 established Lee de Forest, Inc., Los Angeles, Calif., supported for Nobel Prize for Physics, in 1959 received an honorary Oscar instead, owned 180 patents, but needed Edwin Armstrong to understand them, and David Sarnoff to commercialize them, married 4 times.
Daniel Knechtel (1843-1936): started with 21 to work as a carpenter in Hanover, Ontario, in 1866 together with brother Peter made furniture by hand for newly arrived fellow German settlers, in 1868 bought a sawmill, in the late 1890’s established factories, sawmills and warehouses in Southampton, Walkerton and Winnipeg, which were again closed in the mid 30's during the Great Depression, which also caused production of small furniture like radio cabinets. Knechtel was honoured in 2003 by the Ontario Heritage Foundation with a plaque (ref.3 and pict.29).

Here are the specifications:

About my radio
The radio still has two original Rogers spray-shield tubes 88M (replaceable by 6K7 tubes), and the Rogers rectifier tube 80, the rest are Canadian Westinghouse tubes. The dial comprises 6 bulbs, two for AM and SW each, one for the band selector and one 24V bulb used as "Tuning Indicator" (see schematic pict.27, original at ref.4) inside the pointer pivot at the dial center. The unit has been thoroughly cleaned and in-depth serviced, a few out-of-tolerance resistors and all condensers replaced, all bulbs replaced and the bulb house repainted in white. The radio is in near mint condition, the near referring to the fact, that the original celluloid dial had two holes burnt by the two AM dial lights. I smoothed the holes, filled them with pieces of same thickness black plastic material, made a horseshoe shaped cover from matt black paper, and backed the reconstruction with an aluminum foil for future better heat distribution. One of the lower 3 knobs was missing and has been reproduced by a carpenter friend from same mahogani wood, all 5 knobs had to be restained and relaquered. The 7-tone wood cabinet has no cracks, chips or offending scratches and has not been refinished, just touched up and repolished to a high gloss. The black edges have been repainted. The radio plays loud and clear, and with excellent sensitivity and selectivity, even at the higher end of the AM scale, and on the two SW bands. The two external antennas have to be optimized at the radio's final location. Watch a 2.4MB! flash movie by clicking on pict.28 to see and hear the radio playing.

For your consideration is the Rogers TEN-60, a very rare Cathedral Radio from the mid 30's Heydays of Canadian Radio Production, in a Beautiful Knechtel Cabinet, in remarkably exceptional Condition, Serviced and Perfectly Working

Gallery: (watch descriptive legends under pictures, when mousing over thumbnails and click to Supersize)

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