Ekco B38

The battery-operated B38 was launched in 1937. It was available in walnut and in black and chrome cabinets. The set was also available as an AC/DC mains version, the AD38. The cabinet featured rattan instead of speaker cloth, a treatment shared, amongst Ekco sets, only by the black and ivory instance of the AC77, of 1936, the cabinet of which was designed by Serge Chermayeff.

Green Ekco AD65

Very nearly the holy grail. Four of Ekco's round radios of the 1930s and 1940s - not the AD75 - were available for special order in a variety of colours, the cabinet made of urea formaldehyde instead of the Bakelite used for the standard 'walnut' and black cases. As far as is known, there are three genuine colour A22s - two red and one 'onyx' green - and four genuine colour AD65s - three onyx green, and one ivory. All others are reproductions or fakes - Gerry Wells' wooden Wells Coated AD65s amongst the former, and a number of injection moulded A22s passed-off as genuine amongst the latter.

The very best reproductions are those made by Graham Rowe, in Brisbane, Australia. Using moulds taken from genuine sets, the cabinets are made from a thermoset polymer, a compound of stone, plaster, resin and acrylic. The fakes can be melted, whilst Rowe's cabinets are irreversibly hardened, under heat and pressure. To date, he has made five AD65s - two onyx green, one swirled red, and two ivory - and four A22s - two red and two onyx green.

The pictured set is one of Rowe's two onyx green AD65s. It has an original Ekco chassis, and an original Ekco station dial, replacing the reproduction one with which the cabinet was initially fitted. Naturally, the speaker cloth is modern, but a very close match to the original. The bars are made from polished aluminium. The back is from an original AD65, and replaces the original with which the cabinet was initially fitted, being in better condition.




The moulding is absolutely correct, down to the ribbing inside, and the swirled colour is spot on. Even the captive screw retainers are correct - made of brass, moulded into the cabinet, and of the correct thread to accept the 2BA (British Association) cheese head screws used to affix the back. Were it not for the absence of the stress cracks in the cabinet which characterise all genuine colour round Ekcos, it would be impossible to tell this set from the real thing.

I, Ekco Robot

At 21" high, the AC97 is Ekco's tallest Bakelite-cased radio. It is also the company's most strikingly Art Deco cabinet design, which lies behind one of its colloquial names - the Robot. The set provided for MW and LW reception, tuning assisted by the central Mullard TV4 'magic eye' valve, which indicates signal strength - and provides the set's other nickname, the Cyclops.

The cabinet was designed in 1936 by Jesse Collins, elected a Fellow of the Society of Industrial Artists in 1945. In the same year Collins founded Britain's first true course in graphic design, at the Central School of Arts and Crafts, London. The set was available in two colours of Bakelite: the pictured walnut, and black (with ivory-coloured urea formaldehyde trim and knobs).

Ekco Radio Stands

Ekco is known to have produced stands for eight of its iconic Bakelite radios of the 1930s and 1940s. There is direct contemporary evidence, from an Ekco leaflet of 1935 (above), for stands for two of the company's five round radios - the AC/AD76 and the AD36, both inspired by Wells Coates' 1932 styling for the AD65 - and for the AC/AD86 'Dougal', styled by Serge Chermayeff. All three of these radios were released in 1935.

     

There's also photographic evidence of contemporary Ekco stands for the AC/AD85 of 1934, inspired by Wells Coates' design work (image not available for copyright reasons but available online); and for the AC/DC74 of 1933, styled by Chermayeff. Two stands were available for this last. One, in chromed tubular steel, price £1.15s.0d, for the black and chrome version of the set (above left, copyright Robert Chesters). Another, in wood, half the cost at £0.17s.6d, for the 'walnut' version (above centre).

A choice of wooden and chromed tubular steel stands, similar to those for the AC/DC74, were available for the AC/DC64, also styled by Chermayeff. A wooden stand could be had for the AD65 (above right). And, finally, an Ekco publication of 1936 for dealers lists a wooden stand for the AD37, although no image is known. No stands were available for the round A22 or AD75 radios. A complete collection of original Ekco stands would hold ten examples, excluding the wooden colour variants.

The wooden stands were of beech, and sported design cues that reflected those of the radio for which they provided support. They were available in both brown and black, likely coloured toner subsequently sealed with cellulose lacquer, to match the principal colours in which the radios were made. Stands without curves to the supporting platform are modern incarnations, not Ekco originals.

However, the oak stand featured in the remaining photographs in this post has accompanied the AC85 which sits upon it since their joint purchase, in the Spalding area of Lincolnshire, in about 1934. It is unlikely to have been made by Ekco itself, but instead by a local joiner, to display the radio to best effect in a shop. An EKCO RADIO transfer runs along the top stretcher, and the fretwork to the cupboard door bears upon it EKCO, 'printed' by means of masked staining of the wood.

In about 1987 the radio and stand, still paired, passed locally to Graham Richardson, only the second owner. Now in the hands of its third owner, the radio (still entirely functional, without any restoration work having ever been done) and stand remain together. The stand is undoubtedly contemporary with the radio, and unique.

(My thanks to Robert Chesters for some of the information in this post.)

Ekco Microphone

This six inch tall moving coil microphone was likely released by Ekco in about 1934, as the design echoes that of their first round radio, the AD65, released that year. There is little available information on these Ekco Bakelite-cased microphones, but it was quite possibly for use with a home recorder.

Ekco - Round Five

Ekco released its first round radio, the AD65, in 1934. Four further circular designs followed, both the AD36 and the AD76 in 1935, the AD75 in 1940, and the A22 (pictured) in 1945. This was the last word in development of Wells Coates' original design, with the tuning dial turning a complete circuit, making the A22 the most elegant of the round Ekcos. It was the only one that included the shortwave band. The cursor is in the form of a light box that circles the dial, illuminating it from behind.

Two standard versions were available: walnut-toned Bakelite with a Florentine bronze ring, which cost £17.17s.3d; and more expensive black Bakelite with a chromed ring, as in this example. There are also known to be three genuine special order A22s, made of urea formaldehyde, two in red, and one (made for the 1946 Britain Can Make It exhibition) in marbled green. All other coloured A22s are fakes or copies.

Echo of an Ekco

The cabinet of Ekco's AC-only AC77, designed by Serge Chermayeff, was available in both walnut Bakelite, and black Bakelite with a front panel and controls in ivory urea formaldehyde. Also available were AC/DC (AD77), battery (B67) and accumulator/vibrator (BV67) versions.

This working example of the black and ivory AC77 is doubly rare, in that it was manufactured, in 1936, at Ekco's short-lived Belgian factory, in Haren, near Brussels. Accordingly, the set uses French side-contact valves.

The Belgian operation was started in 1935 to counter the effect of continental import duties, levied by weight, but closed in 1937 for economic reasons. A sales and service function remained at Haren until the start of WWII. The back is branded differently from Southend-on-Sea-built Ekcos.

Ekco - Round Two

Introduced in the same year, 1935, as the AC76, the cabinet of Ekco's AD36 was inspired by Wells Coates' earlier work on the first round radio, the Ekco AD65. The radio could be had in either walnut-toned Bakelite (£8.8s.0d), or black Bakelite with chromed grille bars and knob centres (£8.18s.6d). A wooden stand was also available, for £0.25s.0d.

The black and chrome version of the AD36, pictured, did not suit the decor of many houses of the day, and is accordingly much rarer. A plastic miniature copy, with functioning FM reception, is made in the People's Republic of China.

Wells Coated Ekco

Four of Ekco's five round radios (not the AD75) were available for special order in a variety of colours, the cabinet formed of urea formaldehyde instead of the usual Bakelite. There are understood to be extant just three genuine colour A22s - two red ones, and a marbled green one, this last made especially for the 1946 Britain Can Make It exhibition. There are known to survive three genuine green AD65s, and possibly a genuine ivory one. Beyond that, all sightings of colour Ekcos are either speculative, or of copies/fakes.

(A genuine green AD65 supposedly sold for £17,500 at Academy Auctioneers, Ealing, in 1993, but this is questionable: the set reappeared at Sotheby's but failed to reach its reserve. Another, with no chassis, sold at Christie's in 1995 for £3,375 including buyer's premium.)

Gerry Wells, who died in December 2014, famous in vintage radio circles, made wooden reproductions of Ekco AD65s. The presenter of a TV programme on which Wells appeared said that Bakelite had been used by Ekco as it was impossible to make the round shape of the cabinets in wood. Gerry proved the theory wrong by forming the front panel from turned and routed MDF and the cylindrical body from steamed plywood.

The Wells copies are proper valve sets, made in batches of 15. The first six sets, made in 1993, were exact copies of the original, including the chassis. Some later sets were jointly made by Gerry, Eileen Laffey and Tina Sandell, of the British Vintage Wireless and Television Museum, Dulwich. Some were fitted with a solid state FM front end by Benito di Gravio, also of the museum. A final batch, of 17 sets, with the correct chassis but an added FM head, was made in 2006 by Wells, Ian Johnson, and di Gravio.

The cabinets were spray-painted in a variety of colours, most commonly marbled green, red and ivory - the colours of the rare genuine survivors. Others were sprayed brown, black, light green, yellow, white, and blue. (A blue one was given to John Paul Getty II, a patron of the museum.) The very first set was marbled green. Eileen's own one-off set was Marks & Spencer green, and Tina's one-off set was a slightly metallic dark blue. The final batch included one each in silver, chrome, camouflage, two-toned metallic, and pink. The very last set was ivory.

The set pictured was Tina's own. The chassis was built, under the tuition of Gerry, by Sandell, who started as a Saturday girl at the museum in 1993. It has a FM front end, and was completed by Benito (by whom it is signed) in July 1996. Tina, from whom the set was acquired, confirmed that Wells had intended to make more AD65 copies than the 152 that are thought to have been made. Someone, though, took from the museum the form used to guide routing of the front panels.

The cabinet of the AD65 was largely designed by the architect Wells Coates. The original sets have printed on the back that they were made at the Ekco works, Southend-on-Sea. In a play on names, and referring to the spray-painting process, a Gerry Wells reproduction AD65 sports a label stating that the set is a RAD65, a "Wells Coated Radio", made in Dulwich.

Bakelite Box - Ekco PB505

The alternating current PB505 was released by Ekco in 1939, and was available in both a wooden cabinet and this 'walnut' Bakelite one, the same chassis in each. There are nine push buttons for pre-set stations. The cabinet was shared with the AC-only PB507 and the AC/DC PBU505. A variant of the cabinet was used again, after WWII, for the more common A21, released in November 1945. The latter can be recognised by having five, instead of nine, push buttons.

First Chermayeff Ekco

The architect Serge Chermayeff designed four of Ekco's Bakelite cabinets - the AC86 of 1935, the AC77 of 1936, and the AC64 and this, the AC74, both of 1933. The set was available in alternating current, direct current (DC74) and battery (B74) versions, and two colours - the pictured 'walnut' and black and chromium. It features a light beam and shadow tuning indicator. The station indicator strips, of engraved celluloid, are affixed by pairs of metal studs over the permanent wavelength scales beneath, and could be changed as new radio stations appeared. A wooden stand was available for the 'walnut' version of the set, and a chromed tubular steel stand for the black and chrome version.

First Bakelite Ekco

Ekco's first Bakelite-cased radios were the 312 and the 313, both released in 1930. At this time Ekco, the first wireless manufacturer to make Bakelite cabinets, had these moulded for it by Allgemeine Elektricitätz-Gesellschaft (AEG). The company installed its own presses, under AEG supervision, at its Southend-on-Sea factory in 1931, upon the imposition of high import taxes. The exquisitely-detailed cabinet of the 313, which was available from July 1930 in mahogany (this example), special order medium oak, and special order dark jade, was designed by L. Smithers. 

The set had a drum-drive scale, was available in AC (pictured) and DC versions, and cost £22.10s.0d. One then had to buy a loud-speaker. There were two options, the pictured moving-iron cone LS1 Ekcone, at £5, or the moving-coil LS2 Ekcoil, at £11. The wireless and cheapest speaker would have cost over ten weeks' of the average wage of the time, putting it out of reach of all but the most affluent. 84 years on, this 313 is in remarkable, and full working, condition.

Gerry Wells - Valveman

The British Vintage Wireless and Television Museum, Dulwich, is housed in the home in which its creator, Gerry Wells, was born in 1929. Gerry has spent his life in the world of radio and television, building them from scratch (including his WADAR brand), repairing them, stealing them, and collecting them.

His interest in everything electrical started at age four, and truly amounts to the Obsession that is the title of his fascinating autobiography. The museum commenced in 1974, when it was focused on wireless - it has subsequently expanded into 405-line television.

Many of the vintage TVs on show are in full working order, fed via standards converters. These include that used by the BBC to convert from 625 to a transmittable 405 lines, when they were running dual standards - being the size of a double wardrobe, this is appropriately housed in Gerry's bedroom.

This and the kitchen are the only rooms of a normal domestic character. The rest of the house is full to the gunwales with vintage wireless and TV sets. There's a room of 1920s equipment (top), one largely of Ekcos (second photo), another of early transistor portables (third photo), and yet another partly fitted out as a period wireless repair shop (above).

It doesn't end there though. At the end of the garden is a series of interlinked sheds, one with a clerestory roof, all built by Gerry. These are also full of sets, grouped by manufacturer, and of display cabinets of various components; and house Gerry's workshop. In all, a staggering 1,300 sets are on display.

Ekco & Animation

The Ekco AC86 was released in 1935, a year after the AC85 of which it was a restyle, the cabinet design undertaken by Serge Chermayeff. The set was available in both walnut (pictured) and black Bakelite, the latter with chromium detailing. A wooden stand was available for £0.29s.6d.

The AC86 could also be had in AC/DC (AD86), battery (B86) and export (SW86) versions. It is known to vintage radio enthusiasts as the 'Dougal'. When first bought, the set would have swallowed 13 guineas, about £820 in today's money, and three to four weeks' of the average wage of 1935. Quite how much LSD was ingested by the radio's namesake from The Magic Roundabout is not known.

The AW70 was released in 1939. It operated only on alternating current, but was available also in battery form (BAW71). By this point, immediately pre-war, Ekco was no longer producing black and chromium variants, although it did so again in 1945 with the A22.

The set's dial features the word "Aircraft" at 900 metres. A feature first introduced in 1934, this marked the frequency at which one could listen to traffic between airborne 'planes and the control tower at London Airport, Croydon, unthinkable in today's controlled world. It was presumably the AW70 that inspired the design of the alarm clock merchandise spin-off from Aardman Animations' 2000 film Chicken Run, being spirited away by Fetcher and Nick

Ekco & Sir Misha Black

Amongst the architect-designers engaged by Eric Kirkham Cole to design Ekco's Bakelite radio cabinets was (later Sir) Misha Black. Azerbaijan-born, Black came to England aged two. His design for Ekco's AC/DC UAW78 of 1937, pictured, evinces shades of Ellis, Clarke and Williams's 1932 Daily Express Building in Fleet Street, London, with its round corners in vitrolite and clear glass, an icon of Art Deco architecture. Original price £11.0s.6d. A battery version (BAW78) and an accumulator/vibrator version (BV78) were also available.

In 1943 Black founded, with Milner Gray, Design Research Unit, one of the first practices to address itself to architecture, industrial design, and graphics. DRU had significant involvement with the 1951 Festival of Britain. Black developed the external styling of British Rail's Class 71 electric (1958), and Class 52 diesel (1961) locomotives; and designed Westminster's street name signs (1968) and the iconic geometric orange, black, yellow and brown moquette used on London Transport seating (late 1978).

Ekco - Rounds Three & Four

Taking full advantage of the plastic properties of Bakelite, Ekco introduced in 1934 the first round radio, the AD65. The cabinet of this was largely designed (two years earlier) by the ex-patriate Canadian architect Wells Coates, famous for his Isokon building, Hampstead - the Lawn Road Flats in which lived Agatha Christie. Coates was interested in circular motifs, at the time to the fore in the drum-shaped London Underground stations of Charles Holden, best seen in Arnos Grove and Southgate, on the Piccadilly Line.

Over the next eleven years, Ekco brought out another four round designs. The AC76 (left) was released in 1935, and sold for eleven guineas. A black and chromium version was £12.1s.6d. An AC/DC version was available as the AD76, and a wooden stand, rather like a stool, could be bought for £0.29s.6d.

The AD75 (right) was released in January 1940, its rather plainer design and smaller diameter, 14 instead of 15½ inches, a reflection perhaps of wartime economies. It sold for seven guineas. The set was re-released in October 1946, now four guineas more, and can be distinguished from the 1940 version pictured by an on/off switch to the side of the cabinet.

Note: Ekco's ADs ran on both alternating and direct current, whilst their ACs ran on alternating current only.

Bakelite Beast

Leo Baekeland invented the first true, i.e. fully synthetic, plastic in 1907. Ekco's first Bakelite radios were introduced in 1930 for the 1930/31 season, in the form of the models 312 and 313, designed by L. Smithers, both with separate loudspeakers. (Note: at that time, the wireless set industry worked in seasons, the models for the next season shown at autumn trade fairs. The industry's mostly women workers were hired at the end of summer, and fired around about Easter, each year.)

The U49 set was introduced by Ekco in 1947. This utilized the same cabinet as the August 1946 AC-only A23, but was instead AC/DC. It is an impressively large, and somewhat brutal, chunk of Bakelite, 22 inches long, 13 inches high, and 10 inches deep. This houses a chassis that provides for short-, medium-, and long-wave reception. There is also a channel for television sound, and a bank of five pre-set station buttons. The cabinet features on its front face, in Bakelite, Ekco's later logo. Original price £23.2s.0d plus purchase tax.

AD37, Anno Domini 1936

The Ekco AD37, an upright table model operating on AC/DC, was released in March 1936, price £8.18s.6d in the walnut Bakelite pictured, and £9.3s.6d in a black Bakelite and ivory urea formaldehyde version. The set was manufactured at both Ekco's principal factory in Southend-on-Sea, and at their small manufacturing and distribution operation in Haren, near Brussels, Belgium. This last was a means to mitigate the effect of continental import duties, levied by weight, but closed in 1937 for reasons of economics. A battery version (B37) was also available, as was a wooden stand.

Echo of an Ekco

In 1931 Ekco introduced the RS2 wireless, available in AC and DC versions, in a cathedral-style Bakelite cabinet by the company's Head of Design, J.K. White. In February 1932 a major fire at Ekco's Southend-on-Sea factory destroyed, amongst other things, the R&D facilities and, with these, the prototypes for 1932/33.

In 1932 Ekco brought out the pictured M23 (AC), also available in a DC version, with medium-wave and long-wave, using the same cabinet as the RS2, but with concentric knobs to provide for the greater number of controls. The new model, using a prior year's cabinet design, was unpopular and had to be heavily discounted, and Ekco only just avoided bankruptcy. The standard cabinet colour was walnut (pictured), but mahogany and dark jade could be had as special orders.

Soixante-Neuf, 1938-style

The Ekco all-wave AW69 (alternating current) was introduced in 1938, and boasted short-, medium- and long-wave bands. It's what's known as an upright table model, though at 22 inches high it would have dominated many an average room of the 1930s. The expansive speaker grille cloth has been replaced. The set was also available in AC/DC (UAW69) and battery (BAW69) forms.