Uploaded January 2023 | Updated September 2026, 16 hours ago
These radios from the 1960s are sharp!
Yes, they're Sharp brand, and sharp looking, it can't be denied. The cabinets are nicely rounded on these and the trim details very nice. The inset panels on the front, the textured dial magnifier. Very nice indeed. The vinyl straps are a detail we would see much more of on later transistor radios. These straps more or less replaced the leather case.
As much of the transistor radio business was moving from Japan to Hong Kong in the 1960s, you might expect these to be Hong Kong radios. But no, they're made in Japan. So that tends to suggest they are from the early '60s. And that Sharp logo on the front, in the oval, that's an early style logo. The radios do not, however, have civil defense marks on their tuning dials, so they either got left off for some reason, or these radios are a bit later than I think.
Let's get one of these apart and see if we can count the rings. Well, they both have battery doors and so were not intended to have their backs entirely removed by the owners.
The back did not want to come off. It put up quite a fuss, but I managed to get this one open without breaking anything. Yes, it looks quite a bit newer inside than I expected. So... late '60s? Early '70s? And still using that old-style logo(?)
The Sharp BP-102A in black... and the BP-102B, in red. Very different from the Sharp radios of a few years before, like this TR-221... That was a beauty, all right,... but these are beauties too, in their own way. At the time these appeared, most transistor radios were being sold on price and were getting pretty skimpy on design and on build quality--at least the build quality of the cabinets and trim. This was even true on radios made by the major players, like Sony, Standard, Toshiba, and others. It was against this backdrop that Sharp produced these standouts--as well-made and quite possibly more beautiful than anything the competition had to offer.
#hayakawa #sharp #vintage #transistor #antiques #collectibles #transistoradio #collectornet #1950s #1960s
These radios from the 1960s are sharp!
Yes, they're Sharp brand, and sharp looking, it can't be denied. The cabinets are nicely rounded on these and the trim details very nice. The inset panels on the front, the textured dial magnifier. Very nice indeed. The vinyl straps are a detail we would see much more of on later transistor radios. These straps more or less replaced the leather case.
As much of the transistor radio business was moving from Japan to Hong Kong in the 1960s, you might expect these to be Hong Kong radios. But no, they're made in Japan. So that tends to suggest they are from the early '60s. And that Sharp logo on the front, in the oval, that's an early style logo. The radios do not, however, have civil defense marks on their tuning dials, so they either got left off for some reason, or these radios are a bit later than I think.
Let's get one of these apart and see if we can count the rings. Well, they both have battery doors and so were not intended to have their backs entirely removed by the owners.
The back did not want to come off. It put up quite a fuss, but I managed to get this one open without breaking anything. Yes, it looks quite a bit newer inside than I expected. So... late '60s? Early '70s? And still using that old-style logo(?)
The Sharp BP-102A in black... and the BP-102B, in red. Very different from the Sharp radios of a few years before, like this TR-221... That was a beauty, all right,... but these are beauties too, in their own way. At the time these appeared, most transistor radios were being sold on price and were getting pretty skimpy on design and on build quality--at least the build quality of the cabinets and trim. This was even true on radios made by the major players, like Sony, Standard, Toshiba, and others. It was against this backdrop that Sharp produced these standouts--as well-made and quite possibly more beautiful than anything the competition had to offer.
#hayakawa #sharp #vintage #transistor #antiques #collectibles #transistoradio #collectornet #1950s #1960s
