McMurdo’s Masterpieces: Discovery of a Masterpiece V and a Masterpiece VI in

a Victoria Basement and their Restoration (Part 1) – Gerry O’Hara (SPARC)

Introduction

Serendipity is a strange thing and it happened to me in

mid-2016. I am the President of the SPARC1 radio

museum in Coquitlam, BC. and the Museum often

receives calls asking questions about what radios are

worth, whether the museum can repair or restore a

radio for someone, and, occasionally, the caller asks

how best to pass-on a radio collection. The latter

usually comes after the collector has passed away and

the family seek a means of having the collection – the

pride and joy of a dear family member – passed into

the hands of grateful and appreciative recipients.

Sometimes, the collection, or part of it, is offered to

the Museum by way of donation, and/or the family are

looking to realize some financial compensation to

contribute to the estate. Unfortunately, in the case of

the former, the Museum is running out of space and

must exercise extreme caution in acquiring new

inventory. However, the Museum volunteers are

always willing to help out in any way they can – offering advice, distributing lists of radios through its

network of vintage radio enthusiasts, including the CVRS2 and the Victoria Radio Group3. The Museum

has developed a triage process, whereby preference is given to items closest to the ‘core’ interests of

the Museum, ie. Canadian-manufactured radios pertaining to the domestic, commercial and amateur

markets, then rarer radios manufactured in related markets such as the US and Europe.

Background

Such a phone call came in a few months ago. Unfortunately it was a while before I was handed a note

with the caller’s details on it and was able to respond. The caller (Shelley) is located in Victoria and

explained that the basement of her mum’s (Irene’s) house contained over 150 vintage radios of all types

that had belonged to her father (Jim) who had passed away around 5 years ago. Her mum had decided

that it was about time the collection found a new home(s) and Shelley was helping her do just that.

Luckily, I bought an apartment in Victoria last year and travel between Coquitlam and Victoria quite

frequently these days. I said I would be pleased to help and arranged to visit her mum’s house during

my next visit to Victoria. I invited one of my friends, Gary, to the visit also (four eyes are better than two

when looking a collection over in my experience). Gary and I showed up, met Irene and Shelley, and

were then shown into the basement… two large rooms and an under-stairs closet all full of vintage

radios and related paraphernalia. One room had several shelves on the walls holding many smaller

1 Society for the Preservation of Antique Radio in Canada (https://sparcradio.ca/) 2 Canadian Vintage Radio Society (http://www.canadianvintageradio.com/) 3 Located in Victoria, BC

McMurdo Silver Masterpieces Gerry O’Hara

2

table top radios with

stacks of larger radios

beneath (photo, right), as

well as an ‘island’ of

console radios in the

centre. One wall was

dedicated to mainly

1920’s radios, including

several Canadian-made

sets and speakers, home-

brew sets and other older

item. The second room

contained a large array of

consoles as well as some

other radios and a bench

covered in test

equipment, tools and

parts. The under-stairs

closet contained shelves

covered in a wide variety of chassis and parts, and the stairs were festooned with speakers.

Gary and I chatted to Shelley about the radios – explaining the different types and vintages in general

terms, with some specifics about some models. We identified some non-radio items, such as an Edison

phonograph and several large dictation machines and then started to discuss ways of disseminating

information about the collection out to local enthusiasts, how to price the radios, etc. During this

conversation we mentioned that the larger consoles were often a problem as folks these days usually

just did not have the room to accommodate more than a couple of such radios in their collection – even

if they were attractive and

had the significantly more

technologically advanced

chassis. We started to take

a quick look at the consoles

in the second room when I

noticed that one of them

had a chrome-plated

chassis. I also noticed a

very large field-coil speaker

on the far side of the room

(extreme right of the photo,

left). I shook my head and

took a closer look at this

set. It was a McMurdo

Silver Masterpiece VI (MP

VI) - serendipity number

one. I commented to

McMurdo Silver Masterpieces Gerry O’Hara

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Shelley that this set was a rare and sought-after set that had been a high-end model in the mid-1930’s

and, as such, it was worth more than most consoles. I then glanced across to where the large speaker

was standing and noticed another console with a

chrome-plated chassis with matching dust-cover –

I shook my head: this was a Masterpiece V (MP V –

photo, right) - serendipity number 2. Finding one

such radio in a collection is very unusual, but

finding two…(!) Taking a closer look, the speaker

belonged with the MP V and there was a chrome-

plated dust cover that belonged to the MP VI

sitting nearby. Both power supply/amplifier

chassis were in their respective cabinets, and a the

second speaker was in the MP VI, so the sets were

complete. The chassis both looked in fair

condition, though some pitting was noted on one

power supply/amp chassis (MP V) and on the

chrome-plated dial escutcheon on the MP VI.

We let Shelley know we would give the collection

some careful thought and do some background

research on the two McMurdo Silver sets. I also

noted that the Museum would likely be interested

in some of the early Canadian sets/speakers and,

possibly, the McMurdo Silver consoles.

I undertook some preliminary research on the McMurdo Silver sets and also contacted other Directors

at the Museum regarding these and the early Canadian items. I found out that the large field coil

speakers (Jensen 18” ‘Super Giant’) have been known to (apparently) sell on EBay for up to US$7,000

each (Asian Hi-Fi market), meaning the MP sets they belonged to had been parted-out to exploit the

parts value, destroying a valuable piece of radio history in the process. I also found out that these sets

were made to order for individual clients (the two chassis in Irene’s basement had nameplates on the

rear panels identifying the original owners), and supplied in a variety of cabinet styles. The cabinets on

these two sets was the (low-end) ‘Oxford’ model.

Various options of disposal of these two sets were outlined, ranging from parting the sets out, EBay

versus local sales, and Museum donation/sale, with the pros and cons of each described for Shelley’s

family to consider. A meeting of the Museum’s Executive was also held that included the possible

purchase of one or both of the McMurdo Silver sets (as well as the early Canadian items) – the Executive

confirmed interest in acquiring the sets, however, requested that due diligence be undertaken regarding

the condition of the McMurdo Silver sets and fair market value. As the cost of the sets was significant, I

offered to buy one of the sets (the one in the worse condition) from the Museum if the purchase was

successful.

The requested due diligence exercise was undertaken and two reports prepared: the first was a

preliminary technical inspection report, prepared following a closer inspection of the two sets, including

removal of the chassis bottom plates and continuity testing of the power transformer secondary and

McMurdo Silver Masterpieces Gerry O’Hara

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chokes. The second report reviewed various

sources of information on price for complete

sets and for parts of sets (speakers, chassis, and

cabinets) from several sources, including EBay,

other auction sites, CHRS4, NMRCC5, and vintage

radio forums. These reports, along with all

reference information was submitted to Shelley6,

along with several offer scenarios for the

Museum to acquire the radios. During the

subsequent discussions, Irene noted that she

wanted the radios to go to ‘good homes’ where

they would be appreciated and hopefully passed

on to future generations, rather than sold for

the maximum cash value – she felt that this was

the best way to honour Jim’s memory. As such,

the option of the McMurdo Silver sets and the

early-Canadian sets going to the SPARC Museum

was attractive, providing a fair price was

offered. A number of offer packages was

developed by the Museum for Shelley’s family

to consider and one of these, for the two

McMurdo Silver sets and the early Canadian

items (two Northern Electric sets, one Canadian

Westinghouse set and two Northern Electric

Speakers), was accepted.

The sets were packed into my Jeep (a

bit of a squeeze into a Cherokee! –

photo, right) and stored temporarily in

my apartment storage locker (another

tight squeeze!) and transported in a

series of trips back to Vancouver, the

MP V finally arriving at the Museum

(less cabinet) at the end of July.

Members of the Museum were keen to

have the chassis on display as soon as

possible, so a quick clean-up with a

Swiffer and soapy water later it was on

display next to the Museum’s Scott All-

4 California Historical Radio Society 5 New Mexico Radio Collectors Club 6 Full disclosure was essential as the Museum, and the author, were conflicted. This conflict was also clearly outlined to Shelley

McMurdo Silver Masterpieces Gerry O’Hara

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Wave7 (photo, right).

One volunteer placed

the MP V chassis on

top of the Scott – I

had a strange feeling

of unease sweep over

me as the ghost of

McMurdo Silver

guffawed at the irony

of this juxtaposition

of reality8 - or was it

Scott stamping his

feet? Anyway, it’s

temporary display

spot ended up on top

of a couple of

adjacent consoles.

To Be Continued…

7 This set was acquired by SPARC in the early-2000’s. Its chrome chassis was in very poor condition as someone had used acid-based flux to make soldered connections and had spattered it over the chassis. The chassis was re-chromed – but the electroplaters used too high a current and warped the chassis(!). This was straightened out and re-plated. 8 McMurdo Silver and Scott were the high-end radio market contenders in the mid-1930’s. McMurdo Silver lost out in this battle and Scott eventually bought-out the McMurdo Silver assets.