BROWNIE NO 2 CRYSTAL SET, 1920's

The number 2 was manufactured by the Brownie Wireless Co. of Great Britain Ltd. The set was available from September 1925 and appears in the 1925/6 Catalogue of the East London Rubber Company. Described as,

"Complete with Semi-Opal Protected Detector, D.L.5 Crystal and "Pallmadium" Cats whisker".

It sold for 10/6 (10 shillings and six pre-decimal pence), or 52.5 pence in today's terms, This price was very competitive, cheap alongside other models of the time, which might have cost in the region of £1 to £5.

Your comments:

• As a child of approximately 6 or 7 during the 60s,my Granddad set up the "Cats Whiskers" set as he called it, I remember that positioning the wire on the piece of quartz(?) was fiddly and took a fine touch to get it right, and that the aerial was also critical. Two years ago the set came into my possession when my Mother passed away, it appears to be the same model as your picture and would love to get it working again, the wire is very old and would love to find reproduction period replacement wire to improve its chance of being usable again it looks in fine condition as it has been indoors all of its life.
  .......... Rob Henden, Burgess Hill, West Sussex, 28th of January 2016
  
  
• Back in 1953, when I was 12 years old, my family moved house. Poking around the basement of our new home, I found a box containing an old radio that I now recognise as the Brownie No.2. It was in the original box, and complete with crystal and headphones. With my father's help I rigged up a long aerial wire, and was able to tune in the local stations - most of the time. Alas, at that age you don't realise the value of such objects, and the Brownie disappeared again when we shifted house once more.
  .......... Rodger Sparks, Wellington, New Zealand, 4th of May 2010
  
  

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