1961 Silvertone 1203, '61 1205, '61 2201:

1961 Silvertone 1203: 4"H x 2 1/2"W x 1 1/4"D
1961 1205: 4 3/4"H x 3"W x 1 1/2"D
1961 2201:4"H x 2 1/2"W x 1 1/4"D

Yes, the red 5-transistor job is really ugly, but I haven't seen a whole lot of them -- maybe because they're so ugly...

The black and silver 1205 is a really "solid," very handsome radio, one of the nicer US sets ever made -- it even has a reverse plastic tuning dial plate! And as Eric Wrobbel has pointed out in his booklet, "American Shirtpocket Transistor Radios," that atomic orbit or satellite orbit symbol you see there is actually -- when you look more closely -- a very stylized pair of letters: SR (Sears Roebuck).

The green and gold 1203 may be a 1961 radio, but in styling and design it has "1950s" written all over it -- a good example of how US transistors in general looked more " '50s" in appearance than did Japanese transistors, even if the Japanese designs were alternately more sophisticated or more outlandish...

© 2007 by Robert Davidson, transistors@abetterpage.com