1957 TV Blue Book values.
 

I just received a "NARDA" TV Trade-in Blue Book for 1957, it's interesting to see what some of our most prized sets were worth as a trade in back then.

1946 621TS $1.81
1946 630TS $2.82
1954 CT100 $112.64

Dumont trade in values held up pretty well, surprisingly the "Chatham" doghouse set was the least valuable.

1947 Chatham $8.11
1949 Manchu $70.93
1951 Royal Sovereign $98.22

1947 VT-71 $2.84, in blond $2.99, .15c difference, how did they calculate that!

Funny thing is all the Electrostatic 7" sets have a higher trade in than the 7" 621, even though they are of similar age and the 621 is a much better set electronically.
I suppose a 621 just seemed hopelessly old fashioned and outdated by 1957, probably downright embarrassing to have in the house.

I'm wondering what the trade-in value of the following TVs were in 1957 were-Just curious:-)
1950 19-inch Zenith Porthole console
1951 16-inch round-tube RCA console
1955 RCA 21-CT-55 color 21-inch console
1951 GE 17-inch rectangular console
Also, the average trade-in value of a 1952-55 21-inch console TV in 1957 as well.
Just curious:-) I'm sure this was very similiar to trading in your old car for money to put towards the purchase of a brand-new 1957 car in 1957:-)

21-CT-55 original list price $895 Trade in value $241.20.

Zenith trade in values held up very well compared to some.

This book doesn't list a 19" Zenith until 1951, then there are four of them, two of which are combos, one is a console "drs", which I assume means it has doors and one plain

Console w/drs $30.48
Console $27.09

The combos are $36.02 and $38.51

If you have model numbers I can pin it down.

Thanks:-) The model number for the RCA is a T-686 16-inch round-tube console without doors and is from about 1951 approx. It's not a combo, just a stand-alone console w/o doors in a mahogany veneer cabinet.

6T86?
Terry

Thanks, then that TV is probably a 1951 RCA 6T86, the last year B&W round tube TVs were available new. I also saw a 1952 24-inch Packard Bell roundie, B&W as well on eBay about 10 years ago if my memory serve me right as well.

Wow-I had no idea such a book was ever published! A great find!

I knew about them, but never had one on a regular basis, nor have I seen one that early. Pawn shops use them as car dealers use the Blue Book. But just as with the car Blue Book, there are radical mistakes in true value of older models, as they don't recognize collector value. Case in point; the Kelley Blue Book was last showing a deduction for the Diesel engine in a 1985 Toyota pickup, but in fact on eBay, the Diesel sells for 10x or even 20x the price of the same truck with a gas engine. When I was following the NARDA book (at a friend's pawn shop) on used TVs and VCRs, the same thing started to happen with TVs once they got to be borderline-collectable. I had asked him why he stopped getting Sony 5" Trinitrons; about 10 years ago, and he said it was because the value in the book was only about $3. And nobody'd pawn one for that. But I'd happily have paid $150 or more at the time, for a clean KV-5000.

Charles

Any mention of the condition of the sets to warrant that kind of money?
Did they have to work, or is it OK that they were in a fire?

Yes, they had to be working.

"Allowances based on sets in operating condition to be traded on sets of comparable original list price"

$33.86 though they list it as having a radio?

The pattern is pretty clear, size matters, the bigger screen sets are worth more as trade ins.
Original list price is factored in too thought there doesn't seem to be a huge amount of variation.

I suppose the difference between a $6.00 trade in and a $12.00 trade in was much more significant in 1957 than it would be now, like the difference between $50.00 and $100.00 would be today. :scratch2: