Until 2022 I had been collecting old radios, electrical
and
electronic
test equipment. It was at this time we decided to downsize and would
not be able to accomodate my collection. I had in the past sold quite a
few small things on eBay but the photographing each end every item and
packaging and despatching them would have been a mammouth task.
I approached a local auction house who offered to visit, photograph
list and allocate lot numbers to everything. The job was made a little
easier for them because descriptions could be lifted from my website. A
removal firm associated with the auction house took it all away a few
days before the auction. Everything was sold, some at very knock down
price. No hassle! Click on the link here:
The
Richard Allan Collection of Vintage Radios & Electrical Instruments
.
In the weeks prior to this I offered my family and friends any thing they would like or find useful. I also invited Lucien Nunes Vaz whose ambition it was to set up the Museum of Electrical and Electronic Technology (MEET) to choose any items he might like from my collection prior to arranging for it to be auctioned. I also offered my collection of Avometers and Evershed and Vignoles items to Megger in Dover for their collection of vintage equipment, however changes in policy meant that my offer was not taken up.
Although Lucien had been unwell he collected several meters and
pieces of test equipment together with a number of valve and transistor
radios in August 2022. Sadly Lucien died before his ambition could be
realised and the items he took with many others were sold by auction in
April 2024. Click the link here:
Lucien
Nunes Vaz - a unique opportunity to acquire some historical electrical
and electronic technology from his collection
Three or four of the items shown and
described on this site belonged to my father
who was a Radio Ham, others have been given to me by family members
some have been bought at junk shops but many have been given to me by
owners who had no further use for them but would like them cared for
and remembered rather than consigning them to a skip.
Although I now have very few of the items shown on the following
pages I intend to keep the site online for the time being as it has
proved to be a valuable resource for other collectors.
CLICK THE PICTURE
Please help me with the identification or provide me with information about the radios and pieces of test equipment. As you will see several people have provided useful information concerning some of the items, if you have any suggestions or observations please let me know and I will update the pages appropriately.
I still have a number of old electrical and electronic
engineering books, one of which is a 3rd edition 1916 of "An Elementary
Manual of Radiotelegraphy and Radiotelephony by J A Fleming who, more
than 100 years ago produced the first Fleming valve. (see picture on
right)
Unlike the websites of some other collectors you will be able to see what is inside many of the vintage and antique radios and pieces of test equipment.
The navigation system includes thumbnails which I hope are big enough to get a general impression of the various items in my collection. Please click on those that interest you for further information. This will bring you to a page with a more detailed description and sometimes showing the interior, schematic diagram, a price guide, historical information and links to other websites. Use your Browser Back button to go back and click on another thumbnail. You could use the Google search box on this page to find all the references on my site for a particular item. (type "cossor" to see what happens.
Some of my radios
appeared in a BBC4 TV programme "Gagging for It: TV's Hunger for Radio"
in 2007. You can also see some on one of the
Guardian web pages.
My Regency
TR1-G featured on a Channel
4 programme "Stephen Fry's 100
Greatest Gadgets" in August 2011. It exceeded my expectations and came
in at number 12. The programme was shown again in April 2012.
In September
2014 I was
interviewed by Mike Hicks for a short piece which was broadcast on Mustard
TV (a local TV station) and in
June 2015 answered questions on Radio Norfolk. In January last
year I was interviewed again by Mike Hicks fo Radio Norfolk and this
time some of my radios were heard "on air".
Some of my collection of AVO and Evershed and Vignoles instruments were lent to MEGGER for a display during their Open Day to celebrate their 50th year in Dover in November 2016.
This site was first created in February 2001 and was last updated on 7th January 2025 (this page). Most of the pages on the site are now more readily viewable on a mobile phone or small screen device.
made on an iMac
click on the iMac to see links to sites
of other members of the family
Looking for something in particular?
