c.1957 Silvertone 8204/8206
Coat pocket radio, thermoplastic cabinet
6 1/4 x 3 x 1 1/2 inches / 159 x 76 x 38 mm
Five transistors (Sylvania 2N212, 2N35, 2 x 2N94, GE 2N321)
One tubular 9-volt battery
Manufactured by Arvin, USA
Distributed by Sears, USA
I think the 8204/8206 was the first Silvertone-marketed transistor radio (made by Arvin, of course). And while several sources date this set as solidly 1957, I've put the manufacture date as "circa 1957", mostly because of the November 1957 date on its Howard W. Sams Photofact folder (see image below): As we all know, many SAMS folders were published well after their radios had been produced and marketed, often by several years -- so this Silvertone may first have been produced in 1956? Just a thought.
Arvin routinely assigned different model numbers to different cabinet colors for the same radio, for both Arvin and Silvertone sets. Here, it looks like the 8204 model number was for units that came in either black or gray, and the 8206 was for "coral".
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