TRANSISTOR RADIO DESIGN

This Penny’s 7TM-285S ‘Lace’ was manufactured by Toshiba in Japan in 1959. It has a very low serial number of 610!

This is a rare radio highlighted by the use of real lace molded into and captured by the clear plastic casing. I know of only two other radios that make use of lace in this unique way, the Toshiba TR-193 and the Toshiba 6TR-186. All are very collectible.

 

This Penny’s Lace operates on both the medium wave and short wave bands. The band selector is a push button located in the middle of the tuning dial. It features the use of interesting angles on the two tone plastic case and an under-painted face with a slide rule tuning dial.

Toshiba manufactured Penny’s radios for the JCPenney chain of department stores based in the USA.

J.C. Penney Company Inc was founded in 1902 by James Cash Penney and William Henry McManus. The original name for the store was ‘The Golden Rule’, but it was changed to JCPenney in 1917.  By 1917, the company operated 175 stores in 22 states in the United States. By 1941, the company operated 1,600 stores in all 48 states.

JC Penny is still going strong today.
 

This Penny’s 7TM-285S can also be found branded as Toshiba with the same model number. It is very similar in appearance to the 2 band Toshiba 7TM-312S featured in Bob Davidson’s collection. Its leather case is very well preserved along with a vintage earphone.

 

According to the serial number date code this Penny's Lace was manufactured in September 1959. Inside it is all Toshiba of course with a Toshiba sticker on the speaker.