[Eliot Ness]

but how in the world was there a NOS Predicta found after all those years!

You'd be surprised what is stuck up in attics and other storage areas, although those finds are getting much harder to find as older folks move out of their houses and storage areas are re-rented.

Several years ago a fellow found my card somewhere and called me about a bunch of NIB Crosley radios. His dad and uncle owned a service station and used to sell radios and appliances. At some point they just moved all of that into the attic and concentrated on tires and car stuff. His uncle had passed and he was looking for someone to buy the radios since his dad was going to sell the station. Although he sent me a list of model numbers, at the time, they were too new to be listed anywhere in collector books (late 40's early 50's).

So one Saturday I tool up to Springfield IL to check out the radios, and sure enough, there were a pile of new-in-the-box Crosley radios amongst the tail pipes and mufflers! I wasn't too interested in the consoles since by that time time they were pretty plain and all had phonographs, but the table sets were very interesting and I bought all 73+ table radios. The trick was loading them into my little Chevy Citation! It was a tight fit but I got them all in.

A buddy of mine went in halves and we had a lot of fun selling off duplicates. The most interesting were the Princess series, better known as the Crosley Jewlers Radios. I have some in a display cabinet, but you'll notice a little Delco on the bottom left, somehow it was mixed in with the Crosleys.