1923 Parkin Crystal Radio Set

Manufactured in 1924 at San Rafael, California,

The crystal detector is mounted inside the cabinet, with adjustable spring tension adjustment to improve detection. The headphones shown are high impeadance type headphones circa 1920s manufactured by Briggs & Stratton. A photocopy of a piece of Parkin Manufacturing sales literature is on the left. This was a radio designed for fixed or portable operation.

It was purchased in 1973 in San Rafael, CA along with some NOS tube sockets and knobs in their original boxes. The last of the surviving Parkin Manufacturing Stock was sold off by the estate through a local radio amateur.

This crystal radio set is special to the collector, WB6FZH, because he walked by the very building it was manufactured in during the 1920s on his way to High School in the 1960s in San Rafael CA. Crystal Sets are ofcourse part of the Magic of Radio.

This set is periodically operated in Northern California, with stations from the San Francisco Bay Area, and the Western United States regulary heard. heard with a longwire antenna.

More information will be posted about the Parkin Manufacturing Company describing the manufacturing of tube sockets, dials and radios at a future time.

READ MARC QSA-5 ARTICLE About Kathleen Parkin..the 15 year-old "radio girl" in 1920- and more info about PARKIN RADIO.

First Uploaded: September 3, 1998

Last Updated: January 10, 2009