H76.213.1

Television Set. Description: Television set, Philco black and white, top can be removed from base and set elsewhere; top is shaped like a picture tube with a skin of beige plastic edged with yellow metal; base is metal treated to look like dark grained wood; metal base feet. Condition good. Dimensions: 25" x 29 1/2" x 15 1/2". Remarks: purchased for the department by Terry Sauer from the Alameda Flea Market for $50.00.

(From the San Francisco Chronicle, 6/16/2002, David Lazarus) ...the corner of Green and Samsome streets in San Francisco, where, for better or worse, human civilizaton was completely and irrevocably changed one foggy morning in 1927. This is where television was invented. Philco Television, named after Philo T. Farnsworth, the young inventor who pulled off the first electronic transmission of a televised image... Farnsworth's accomplishment (a breakthrough he heralded in a four-word telegram to a financial backer: "The damn thing works!")The people at Philco Television take their video legacy seriously. An alcove in the office contains another nod to the past, a 1953 TV set, and the company hosted a book signing this month for Evan I. Schwartz, author of a new account of Farnsworth's life, "The Last Lone Inventor."...a faded historical landmarker at the street corner. It told how the first TV broadcast had been made at this location - "the major breakthrough that brought the practical form of this invention to mankind."Farmsworth, who watch with dismay as RCA chieftan, David Sarnoff claimed the invention of television for himself, ended up all but forgotten in his lifetime. He passed away in 1971.It has only been within the last year or so that people have started trying to give Farnsworth the recognition he deserves - a movement, ironically, that has taken root not on TV but in print and online. There's even talk of a movie being made. But ask most people where in the Bay Area the greatest invention of the 20th century was cooked up, and they'll probably think first of a Silicon Valley garage. Agnes Fransworth Lindsey, Philo's 93-year old sister, said her brother did his best to move on to other projects after the glory for the birth of TV slipped from his grasp. "But I think he had a lot of sadness and worry," she said. "He was very moody."

Used: Philco