You can say “something for nothing” was my mother’s motto
She visited the mailboxes in the lobby of her apartment building in Co-Op City, not so much to pick up her mail, but because that was the area where the tenants in the building discarded their unwanted items. That is where Anna found her “something for nothing,” a gift to bring when she visited us in Kew Gardens Hills.
Sometimes the gift was great, and sometimes the gift was wanting. The Steiff stuffed bear for Emily was missing one of its glass eyes. The Lionel Electric Train for Carl only had 3 wheels. Emily would play doctor and Carl, engineer. The vintage ladder-back chair was perfect. Most perfect and most valuable was an item she found outside in front of her building. Anna had an eye for the good stuff; she could recognize value. She knew what to shlep in the car trunk and bring from the Bronx to Queens.
This item is an RCA Victor vintage clock radio from the early 1930s.
Since it stands a bit shorter than six feet, it is described as a grandmother clock, not a grandfather clock. The style of the cabinet is Art Deco, a skyscraper building adorns the front. The clock is electric, and the radio works on old vintage tubes. Neither is in working order. It sat proudly and comfortably in the corner of our dining room, with an air of great importance.
Looking around my home at my possessions, I think the gift of the RCA Victor clock radio may someday be an heirloom for one of my children or grandchildren; whoever decides to inherit it.
