An image dissector of the type designed by Philo Farnsworth sold for $17,500 at auction yesterday (you can read more about the image dissector here). It was the highest priced item to be auctioned off as part of the “Philo T. Farnsworth Museum – Complete Liquidation” sale, held by Little John Auctions at the World War II Victory Museum in Auburn, Indiana. Online bidding began two weeks before the final live auction.
The auction consisted of items from the collection of Stephen Hofer, who until recently operated the Philo T. Farnsworth Television History Center. You can read more about Hofer and the auction in this article from the Southtown Star.
The full catalog can be found here. A second, repaired image dissector sold for $1,500 and a third, which was damaged, for $350. Other high-priced items included a complete collection of TV Guide, which sold for $3,200, a 1960s 21″ Capehart/Farnsworth television set, which sold for $1,775 and a collection of Lucille Ball memorabilia, which sold for $1,100.
(Thanks to Traci for bringing this auction to my attention.)
One good example of how bad this country’s financial condition is in right now, is the liquidation and sale of items from the Farnsworth Television History Center. Those examples of TV’s earliest history shouldn’t have been auctioned off at all!
I find it regrettable. But Hofer is an older man now, and is probably unwilling to shop that collection around for the third time. What should be done is not always what has to done. And I am not in that loop. I know my wife was calling all over the state and the country when out of the blue, we find it has been consigned to a auctioneer. That could have been handled better.
Kent M Farnsworth
Once again, Kent, as it happened with your father (?), “commerce wins again”.