Sparton Radios

The Sparton Mirrored Radios, designed by Walter Dorwin Teague, were among the most beautiful ever produced. The initial 1936 Teague-designed series consisted of four radios whose release was preceeded by an advertisement showing four covered objects with the caption "The Style Sensation of the radio world is under these covers." Actually unveiled by Sparton on September 18, 1935, one of those radios was the 1186 Nocturne (bottom) and the 566 "Bluebird" (top, 2nd from right) was another. The 557 "Sled" (top right) was released later in 1936 for the 1937 model year. The 558 "Sled" (top left) was not produced until 1937 (for the 1938 model year) and was the "Deluxe" replacement for the 557. The 409-GL (top, 2nd from left was the last of the series, released in 1938 (1939 model year). All models were produced in two flavors: Midnight Blue and Old Rose (Peach). The Old Rose color was not as popular and fewer sales resulted in those sets being a little more rare today than the Blue. The links below will take you on the tour of the Midnight Blue series and other Sparton radios.

Note: Sparton seems to have normally released the models about mid-year for the next model year, causing a lot of confusion today about when a model was actually produced. The last digit of the model number indicates the model year of the set. 506, 566, 1186 were 1936 models. 557, 517 were 1937 models. The 558 was 1938 and 409-GL was for 1939. The first number of the model number (or 2 numbers if the model number is 4 digits long) represented the number of tubes in the chassis design. More on this may be found on the Sparton 506 page.