REGENCY TR-1 — BONE WHITE
The Regency TR-1 was of course the world’s first Transistor Radio making its debut in 1954. This is the Bone White example. Originally consumers were offered four basic colors, Bone White, Mandarin Red, Cloud Grey and Black. Regency quickly released two additional colors in limited quantities; Forest Green and Mottled Mahogany. These two additional colors give the TR-1 a marbleized look.
Regency also released the TR-1 in very limited ‘pearlescent deluxe finishes’. The plastic cabinet is translucent and marbleized. They were offered in five colors; Pearl White, Meridian Blue, Pink, Lavender and Lime. They had a limited production run of about 200 per color. It is my understanding that a Pearlescent Lime variant has yet to be found. They are extremely rare and have sold for as much as $8000 USD!
According to ‘The Regency TR-1: 50 Years On’ an article by Paul R Farmer in the AWA Review Vol 17 from 2004 the Bone White colored TR-1 had an estimated production run of 31000 with probably only 1500 – 3000 in existence today.
This example has the foil stamped logo that appeared on later models and a coin slot at the bottom to pry open the case.
The leather cases for the Regency TR-1 originally sold for $3.95 as an optional accessory. The early examples had a round speaker pattern and they did not have Regency stamped on them. The later models had the square cutout pattern and logo. You can still see the Regency logo faintly on this case…
Looking inside this Regency you can see that it was repaired on April 12 1961. After being repaired Regency attached an ‘after market’ makers label over the smaller original one. This label is marked ‘Model TR-1 & TR-1G’.
