Early Black Royal 300

Zenith Model Number: R300Y

Serial Number: 304,053

Production Date: September, 1957

Chassis: 7AT42Z1

Gary’s ID: #404

Note the wording “Seven Transistors” on the faceplate. This is only found on the earliest 300’s. It was soon changed to read “All Transistor”.

6 thoughts on “Early Black Royal 300”

  1. Gary: nice looking Royal 300 in black. I have never seen one before in this color. Must be sort of rare. Is there any way to tell the production date of the Zenith transister radios by looking at the insides ? Thanks Much

  2. Hi Steve, there are clues inside and sometimes outside too. On the outside, the “Seven Transistor” faceplate would indicate an early 300 while most will have “All Transistor” on the front. On the inside, the serial # located in the cutout of the battery direction plate on the post between the batteries is sequential and will help date it if you know when they started making them. But the best way is to look at the coding on the tuning capacitor. A code of 735 will indicate the 35th week of 1957. Sometimes there are other components that will have a similar format of date code, but the tuner is the most reliable place to look. Hope this helps. Gary

  3. Capacitor # is somewhat smuged but I believe it says 058 (Nov 1960 ?) The serial # is 337401. Color is green and condition is 95%. Did they make the 300’s into the early 1960’s ? Regards, Steve

  4. #337,401 would put it around in 1958 I believe. Look at the numbers on top of the transistors. 816 would indicate 16th week in 1958. The radio would have been assembled a few weeks after that. Gary

  5. Gary i have a black royal 300 with seven teansistors on face plate it is from the fifties, when i turn on i get static but no sound. Is it collectible and if so what is it worth.

    1. Hi Ed. Value to a collector is dependent on the cosmetic condition (or curb appeal). Value is increased if these work. To me, static is sound and a good thing. It indicates life and a good speaker. If you believe that the radio has been idle for years, then I would suggest tuning the dial to a local station and turning the volume knob on then off 50 times to see if the static that is coming from the volume pot deminishes any. Or if the static is coming from moving the tuning knob, then a drop of 3 in 1 oil into the ball bearing of the tuning capacitor axis could help. Let me know what you find out. Good luck!

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