Expert: Eileen Cronk - 3/21/2005

Question
Hello and thanks for volunteering. I came across a pretty old wooden headboard for a bed. Its all wood and has a curved top to it with a shelf built into it. The oddest thing about it is that part of the frontal part has a wooden speaker within it. It has AM radio behind. The radio is of the old 'tube' style. The piece it self isn't 'shot'. The whole thing was laminated with a type of wood which covers a more solid piece. The laminate is pretty much cracked and destorted. I was just wondering what time frame such a piece was from....Thanks again...Ed

Answer
Hi Ed
Nice to hear from you
What an interesting find.
I have seen only one of these in my life, but maybe I'm too young .. NOT.
Actually these tube radios first appeared in the first part of the 20th century.
Wouldn't it be great to have this piece restored.
Believe it or not, vacumm tubes are still available today, and the people to fix them are still around. A little shop is still going near me where the tubes are redily available, and a service man to repair.
The laminate you see is called veneer, and yours could be repaired by the sound of it. (keep in mind that I am a "fixer of old stuff" though, and hate to see these things discarded.)
One can imagine that having a radio in their headboard would be the ultimate in aquisitions, and certainly considered by some to be frivilous.
And without seeing yours, I will guess it was made after WW2 or possibly between 1940 and 1950.
Hope this helps Ed
Regards
Eileen