About the National Vintage Communications Fair
The Fair
The NATIONAL VINTAGE COMMUNICATIONS FAIR is an antique-type collectors fair specialising in early technology and featuring thousands of rare and collectable items such as early radios, television receivers, gramophones, telephones, classic valve hi-fi and all manner of electrical and mechanical antiques & collectables.
Established in 1992, the fair is held in late Spring and attracts over 200 stallholders (dealers, private sellers and clubs) from the UK, the continent, and the USA. For the seasoned collector, attending the fair is a must, and not only useful for seeking out that special elusive item, but also for buying materials, circuit diagrams or spare parts to complete a restoration project.
For newcomers thinking about starting a collection, help and advice are always on hand from many of the country's leading collectors' clubs, societies and specialist magazines.
What's There?
Areas covered and the items usually offered for sale include:
VINTAGE RADIO & BROADCASTING - Crystal sets, 1920s valve receivers, mains wireless sets, battery portables, Bakelite radios, amateur and shortwave radio, military and communications receivers, pocket transistors, horn loudspeakers, headphones, recordings, pirate radio, valves, service sheets, speaker cloth.
CLASSIC VALVE AUDIO & HI-FI - Amplifiers, control units, loudspeaker enclosures, drive-units, pick-ups, audio valves, PX4s, PX25s and KT66s etc., components, tuners, P.A. amplifiers, guitar, stage and cinema amplifiers, microphones, record turntables, reel-to-reel tape recorders, cassette recorders.
EARLY TELEPHONES & P.O. EQUIPMENT - Candlestick telephones, wooden wall phones, room-to-room intercoms, office phones, handset cords, spare parts, Bakelite type 200s and 300s, G.P.O. signs, telephone kiosks, kiosk fittings, pillar, wall and lamp post boxes.
GRAMOPHONES, PHONOGRAPHS & RECORDINGS - Wind-up horn gramophones, table gramophones, electric pick-ups, gramophone needles and tins, springs, soundboxes, horns, spares, 1950s/1960s record players, Dansettes, cylinders, 78s, 45s, LPs & CDs.
FILM & TELEVISION - Pre-war TVs, 1950s black & white televisions, television lamps, old Radio Times and TV Times magazines, transistorised TVs, early video recorders, TV cameras, obsolete studio equipment, test cards/music, trade test colour films, magic lanterns, vintage films, movie cameras, box cameras, projectors/lamps, lenses, reels.
ELECTRICAL & MECHANICAL ANTIQUES & COLLECTABLES - Scientific instruments, typewriters, telegraph instruments, sewing machines, early calculators, musical boxes, polyphons, player pianos, piano rolls, optical toys, light bulbs . . . . . and so much more!
Clubs and Societies at the Fair
Being a high-profile, well-established national event, the National Vintage Communications Fair is recognised as an ideal platform for collecting organisations and groups involved in vintage sound and vision hobbies to promote and publicise their activities, and also to capture new members. The Fair sponsors and supports the City of London Phonograph & Gramophone Society (CLPGS) and the Telecommunications Heritage Group (THG) and is also attended by many of the country's other leading collectors' clubs and societies.
