Black and white television set combined with record player and radio, Bell brand

item details

NameBlack and white television set combined with record player and radio, Bell brand

ProductionBell Radio-Television Corporation Ltd.; manufacturer(s); circa 1963; Auckland

Classificationtelevision receivers, radio receivers, phonographs, furniture, television

Materialswood, metal, plastic, glass, veneer

Materials SummaryWooden cabinet with metal and plastic

DimensionsOverall: 1500mm (width), 915mm (height), 450mm (depth)

Registration NumberGH025214

Credit lineGift of Tom Robertson, 2018

Overview

Television sets have shaped the way that New Zealand households have arranged their living spaces, their leisure, and their finances since 1960. They have been indicators of socio-economic status and national consumption, windows onto the world, the nation, and the world of goods and services.

While television itself is intangible, its technology has had a distinctive design and changing form, moving from fixed pieces of household furniture, like this example, delivering fixed viewing schedules by a state broadcaster, to small mobile screens and digital devices that deliver content on-demand, through subscription channels or other distributed forms of broad or netcasting.

Like the first radio receivers, in the 1930s, this telvision (which is incorporated into a home entertainment unit) makes a statement as a piece of domestic furniture. It has the presence of a sideboard and would have demanded the arrangement of other furniture around it to enable shared family viewing.

According the son of the original owners of the unit, 'This TV was purchased we believe either in 1962 or 1963. It belonged to Colin and May McKelvie (both deceased) who emigrated from Glasgow, Scotland (Colin in 1959 and May in 1960) and settled and lived in Wainuiomata in 1962. Wainuiomata was where a lot of Scottish immigrants first settled. They lived in the same house (that was built for them) in Wood St from 1962 till May's passing in June 2012 (Colin having passed away in 2002).'

In October 1963, a model remarkably similar to this one was described in the New Zealand Home Appliances Monthly as “Television’s most distinguished set - a complete home entertainment centre in one magnificent cabinet. Combines Bell’s superb extra-width picture with 7-valve world-wave radio, BSR automatic record player and three 9 inch x 6 inch stereophonic speakers for the zenith of luxury viewing and listening. Long, low styling follows the newest decorating trends, yet has a dignity and refinement to satisfy the most fastidious tastes.’ Consumers could choose a unit with cabriole legs for 305 pounds or, like this one, with Swedish legs, which was 10 pounds cheaper.