Rare Baird "Televisor", 1928

An unusually well-preserved example of the first commercially produced television set, invented by John Logie Baird (1888-1946). - Manufactured by Plessey Co. for Baird Television Ltd., with spoked Nipkow 30-line scanning disc, screen with approx. 3 x 4 in. (8 x 10 cm) viewing aperture, Mervyn mica tube, mechanism marked "Televisor" and stamped "J.L. Baird", brown-painted aluminum case with period bakelite controls, original copper "Eye of the World" plaque with impression of Baird's signature, wood base, metal bracket feet and plaque: "Baird International Television Ltd., 133 Long Acre, W.C.2. Televisor, Serial No. 521", wd. 27 x dp. 12 x ht. 21 ¼ in. (69 x 39 x 54 cm), overall good condition. - Baird began the work on a system to broadcast moving images in around 1922. At the core of his experiments was the image-scanning disc patented by German student Paul Gottlieb Nipkow in Berlin in 1884. Points of light passing through a spiral pattern of holes on the disc's circumference scanned images into a photocell. By enlarging the disc and filling the holes with lenses to admit more light, Baird was able to increase sensitivity until each lens captured a segment of the subject. - In early 1925, Baird used a 5-line scanning system to demonstrate the transmission of silhouettes at Selfridge's department store in London. Striving to improve image resolution, his breakthrough came on 2 October 1925 with a 30-line system capable of transmitting recognizable images of the human face. Interestingly, his first subjects were not people, but ventriloquist dolls whose brightly painted, cartoon-like features heightened the contrast of the scanned image. In order to increase image size, the scanning lines widened at the sides of the picture. - Baird was to comment: "I was definitely able to transmit the living image, and it was the first time it had been done. But how to convince the skeptical, hide-bound, select and exclusive scientific world?" His first public demonstration before a scientific audience - forty members of London's Royal Institution - took place on 28 January 1926 at 22 Frith Street in Soho. The "Times" newspaper described a transmitting machine "consisting of a large wooden revolving disc containing lenses, behind which was a revolving shutter and a light sensitive cell". - The Baird Television Development Company was established in 1927 and absorbed by Baird International Television Ltd. in 1930. BBC transmitters broadcast television programs using Baird's 30-line system from 1929 till 1932. Despite a limited broadcasting program and a picture the size of a postage stamp, the Televisor retailed for approx. £ 26 (£ 2200 in today's currency) upon its debut, a significant amount that would have purchased a pair of winter coats, an electric sewing machine, a domestic washing machine and a gas stove! The serial numbers on surviving examples suggest that less than 1000 sets were ever produced. - An important milestone in the history of modern media … and a superb exhibition piece!

布雷克拍品等级是为了方便竞买人判断拍卖品的成色而设置的。布雷克等级用1到6级来标注外观和功能的成色，(从非常好到非常差)。 在目录图册里用括号里的2个数字来表示，前一个数字表示外观成色的级别，后一个数字表示功能成色的级别。如(3/2)表示外观成色是3(满意的)，功能成色2(好)。 成色 定义参照下列标准： 1 - 非常好 (未使用过，没有使用痕迹) 2 - 好 (新，极少的使用痕迹) 3 - 满意的 (普通的使用痕迹) 4 - 及格的 (明显的使用痕迹，某个非主要部件是后配的) 5 - 有缺陷的 (极明显的使用痕迹, 某个主要部件是后配的，功能上有缺陷，需要修理) 6 - 非常差 (严重破损, 缺少重要部件)