So, bored at work and cruising eBay I came across this little gem.  It's a RCA Radiola 17 which premiered in the fall of 1927 as RCA's first radio designed to operate on AC.  Until now, all previous RCA radios operated on batteries - remember those old dry-cell batteries?

The case is made of solid mahogany except for the veneered front panel and rear cover.  The unit has three controls - on/off switch, volume and tuning. 

The top opens to access the tubes - seven in total. 

The original price of this unit was $130.00 without the tubes; around 200,000 units were produced. Also, the radio does not have an internal speaker; rather it utilizes an external speaker which were available from RCA and other manufacturers or, there were stands with build-in speakers designed for these types of radios.  I also happen to have one of the most desired radio speakers from the 1920's - the Radiola 103 to go along with this radio.

I snuck this into my dining room on top of the radiator because I knew my kind, patient, and caring wife would throw a fit as soon as she saw it.  After two days, I found this on the kitchen table.

I don't know where I'm going to hide the sewing machine I am working on...

I found the missing hood for the dial - now that the speaker is complete, I can see how they look together.

I like it! Christy hates it.