Guild "Spice Chest" Model 484 Radio (1956)

Despite its kitschy appearance, this radio has a solid hardwood cabinet and decent workmanship all around. The front doors open outward to reveal the radio. The little drawers below are functional, if not very commodious.

The radio has three hardwood knobs, the center one serving as a tone control. In embossed letters above the thin slide-rule type dial you can read the name "The Spice Chest."

Inside, you'll find a conventional "All American Five" tube lineup (35W4, 12BE6, 12BA6, 12AV6, 50C5).

A similar radio appears on page 30 of Johnson's Antique Radio Restoration Guide, 2nd Edition. The cabinets are basically the same, but the one shown in the book is a bit gaudier. The speaker grille is covered with a print of a carriage scene, the doors are slatted instead of solid, and a little metal eagle emblem is fixed to the top backpiece.

I bought this set for almost nothing at a local thrift store. Perhaps they didn't recognize that it was a radio!

I own one other Guild novelty radio, the Country Belle, which is shaped like an old fashioned wall telephone. You can read about other Guild novelty sets in that article.