c.1959 Mignon II A
Shirt pocket radio, thermoplastic cabinet
3 7/8 x 2 1/2 x 1 1/8 inches / 99 x 64 x 29 mm
Six transistors (Hitachi), superheterodyne circuit
Distributed by Fuji Kogei Sha, Ltd. (or Fuji Kogeisha, Ltd.), Japan, under license with Standard Radio Co., Ltd., Japan
Nicknamed the "earmuff" radio by collectors for its unique placement of the tuning and volume knobs. Maybe less unique but more visually interesting is the radio's "slide rule" format tuning dial, so beautifully and prominently displayed — not all that many MW-only vertical shirt pocket radios made use of a slide rule dial, and very few did so as effectively as this set did. Toshiba's 1958 6TP-219 and Realtone's circa-1961 TR-1820 are two other examples of a very effective slide rule dial display. The Toshiba/Trancel 6TP-348 has a beautiful black and gold slide rule dial display, though the tuning dial doesn't set itself off as a separate element on the cabinet face — and then there's Realtone's super over-the-top TR-870 "Satellite", with its slide rule tuning dial placed on top of the set in a very vulnerable and precarious clear plastic enclosure.
The Mignon II A was also found as the Standard SR-F211 and Jefferson-Travis JT-F211 — the SR-F211 was of course the original model and Standard the original manufacturer, and this Mignon II A and the Jefferson-Travis JT-F211 were OEM products.
The distributer's name of this Mignon is stamped on the outside back face of the radio's cabinet: "FUJI KOGEI SHA LTD.". At first glance, the black-and-gold badge on the speaker grille looks to be a script M, as in "Mignon" — but when you look more closely, you'll see that it actually is two letters: AF — this "AF" also appears on all four sides of the Mignon's display box (see photo below), and there the letters are unmistakable as standard capitals. Compare & contrast this with the script "F" found on the speaker grille's badge of the Mignon FT-7 (see photo below) which was made by Standard but distributed by some company other than Standard, possibly Fuji Kogei Sha, Ltd. (Fuji Kogeisha, Ltd.?)
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