1962 Toshiba 6TP-31A
Shirt pocket radio, thermoplastic cabinet
4 1/2 x 2 7/8 x 1 7/16 inches / 114 x 73 x 37 mm
Six transistors (Toshiba), three 1.5-volt AA cells
Manufactured by Tokyo Shibaura Electric Co. Ltd. (Toshiba), Kawasaki, Japan
This is the "A" version of the 1961 6TP-31 — see the photo below showing the two radios side by side. Another stunningly unique cabinet design from Toshiba, and commonly referred to by collectors as the "Bathroom Scale", for obvious reasons. (Early on, it was also called, "the shaver"). As I wrote on my M31 site some years ago,
"A number of radio models -- tabletop tube sets as well as portable and pocket transistors -- sported tuning dials which mimicked the look of the automobile speedometer of the day. This wasn't unique to radios: many household objects of the time borrowed the speedometer look -- and so by extension, speed, progress, modernity... There are washers and dryers and thermostats and electric ranges which used that speed motif in an attempt to signal their users that they indeed were using appliances which were modern and efficient. So leave it to some anonymous designer at Toshiba to model a radio dial after something so static and pedestrian as a bathroom scale and have it come off looking so supremely stylish!... And better, it wasn't just the dial evoking that look, it was the entire radio cabinet!"
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