I have just returned from holiday with a radio that had me puzzled.
There is nothing to identify it on the front or the back except for small tag with rear indicating it is MODEL No 471 and Serial number 547363. Inside there is a plate with an HMV Logo,transformer tap connections,valve line up and the usual warnings about disconnecting before servicing. This plate also indicates it was made by: The Gramophone Company Limited, Hayes, Middlesex, England. Also on the chassis is an ARTS&P label that indictes it was sold about 1936 or 1937.
Nice very large table top cabinet with in-laid wood on the front. Four band with and RF stage. By the chart indicating how to configure the transformer for 12 supply voltages from 95 volt to 260. My first guess was it is a fancy receiver made for sales in the colonies. I know such sets were to be found in India, South Africa and perhaps New Zealand.
Look closely at the ARTS&P label and you will see the words "Dominion of New Zealand". I guess it was originally sold on the "other side of the ditch". A respondant to my forum posts pointed this out to me, I did not realise NZ and an almost identical ARTS&P label to the one in Australia. The only difference is the country indication.
Some of the respondents to my posts on Forums have suggested it is the UK HMV Model 441 with six volt valves istead of the 4 Volt ones used in England but now that I have obtained a service data for the 441 I see it is quite different. For a start, the 441 is a five valve receiver, this one has six valves.
Thanks to Ross Paton, the Librarian of the New Zealand Vintage Radio Society, I now have the service information and a review of this receiver. It is an export version of the British model 482 and has six volt American tubes fitted in place of the four volt Osram 7 pin tubes used in the UK set.
The cabinet needs a bit of attention, the veneer on one side has a very poor repair and on the other side it needs a repair. The in-laid front is in excellent condition. I will have to try to fill the extra holes butchered into the back panel. If I fill them with PVA and then mix some brown pigment into the last drops, that should hide the holes where someone has added an external control, a tag strip and some vintage terminals.