82/1996

Collection

Domestic Appliances

Brief description

G.E.C. Sobell 'fineline' black and white television with a veneered chipboard and white plastic casing and a separate circular aerial, manufactured in the United Kingdom, c.1965-73.This television was donated to the museum by the original owner and there is a Documenting Homes collection associated with this donor, 89/2009.

Title

fineline

Object name

television

Object number

82/1996

Production organisation

GEC (Radio & Television) Ltd. (manufacturer)

Production date

c.1965-1973 (retailed)

Production place

England (manufactured)
England (retailed)

Period

Twentieth century (1900-1999)

Material

plastic
metal
glass
chipboard

Technique

manufactured

Physical description

G.E.C (General Electric Company) 'fineline' television set, in a chip board casing veneered with white melamine plastic. The front screen surround is made of moulded white plastic and to the right there is a control panel with a grey metallic possibly spray paint finish. The television rests on four feet, the back are two circular while the front two are angular and jut forwards.

It has a circular aerial, on the top with a domed metal and plastic base and two telescopic/extending antenna with black plastic finials attached to the base with rotating ball and socket joints. The aerial is stamped on the top, 'Vantenna'.

Dimensions

Height: 43.6cm
Width: 60.3cm
Depth: 30.7cm

Website keywords

Leisure and entertainment
broadcast and pre-recorded entertainment

Label

Caption for Exploring 20th Century London:
This black and white television was bought in the mid 1960s by a married couple in their forties, a lecturer in Art and Design at Hornsey College of Art and a curator at the Victoria and Albert Museum. They lived with their children in a four-storey Victorian house in Hampstead, north London and selected this particular television because they considered it to be a good design. It was used in their front sitting room which was furnished with Victorian furniture in keeping with the period of the house and William Morris print curtains. The television has no stand and was placed on top of an old-fashioned suitcase and was in use until the early 1970s.