Antique Radio Charm with Stanhope Lens

Antique 1930-40's Sterling Radio Charm with Stanhope Lens

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Antique 1930-40 Sterling Radio Charm with Stanhope Lens shows World Champion Boxer Marcel Cerdan of France

Part Number: ANT-030318-1

Availability: In Stock

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Circa 1930-40's antique sterling silver Charm in the form of an old table top radio features an image of French Boxer Marcel Cerdan. This little figural charm features details that include a speaker that has a treble clef embossed on it and a station indicator that looks like a scale where a needle would travel horizontally left and right to tune the radio. The stanhope lens emulates the tuning knob. The charm is hollow with the bottom plate having been soldered. there is a bit of brassy yellow discoloration where it was soldered. the bottom is marked "STERLING" and this looks to have been done by hand. It appears to have been pierced or poked with a series of round puncture marks and can be seen quite clearly in the photo. The stanhope lens is of a high quality and very clear and in excellent overall condition. the charm has nice patina and is also in very nice and lovingly used state of preservation.

Our research finds Cerdan was considered by many to have been France's greatest boxer and he was World Champion for a short stint. In the late 1940's he had a rather scandalous affair with Edith Piaf the famous French singer and had planned to leave his wife and family to start a new life with Piaf. In 1948 Piaf was singing in New York and lovelorn Cerdan decided to visit her there where the two could enjoy their passions outside of the eyes of French Society. He had originally planned to travel by ship but changed his plan at the last minute and booked an Air France flight instead. The plane crashed killing all of the crew and passengers which of course included Cerdan. This devastated the already fragile and unstable Piaf and she spiraled into a slow suicidal pattern of alcohol and drug abuse that destroyed her liver and resulted in her death.

Today Cerdan has largely been forgotten and I have to admit that until finding this stanhope piece, I had never heard of him before. This is one of those rare examples of how a stanhope records an historic event and stimulates intrigue about the often forgotten past. Radios like this one are fairly uncommon in themselves. The only other one I have seen contained an image of the hangar at Lakehurst NJ Naval Air Station which was basically unimportant until the Hindenburg Zeppelin Crashed there in 1937.

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