Sorber 5-Tube TRF

Not Another Homebrew
When I first started checking this radio out I thought it was another homebrew. Well not exactly homebrew, a kit that was assembled at home. No labels like the 1923 Homebrew. But this one had lots of rivets. The front panel to the breadboard. The tube sockets, all riveted. The battery terminal markings were nicely engraved. But no label, so I assumed it was a home built kit. Then someone alterted me to a page at Radiomuseum.org. There was an entry for a 5 tube TRF manufactured by the Sorber Radio Mfg. Co. of Kansas City, Mo. circa 1926. It was only a download of pictures and information from an eBay sale back in 2013. A Sorber Radio. With a label. It looks very much like what I have.
The eBay Sorber and my Sorber.
The eBay pictures are a bit grainy but the front panel decoration at the corners looks different. I don't see the same square loops that are on mine. And I'd love to say that I can see evidence of the Sorber decal at the top of the rear wall of mine but I can't.
No evidence of a decal that I can see. But the exact same layout on the mainboard. And the same 7 original hookup holes on the back.
I can find very little information about the Sorber Radio company. They were located at 1418 Cherry Street in Kansas City and apparently made radios from about 1925 through the early 1930's. The 5 tube TRF was first advertised in December of 1925 and for the next few years their models were being sold in many small radio shops and furniture stores in the midwest U.S. I guess the Wall Street crash of 1929 did them in because by the early 1930's they were advertising a "Factory clean up. Small AC-DC $25 radios going at $9.75 while they last". Their final ad in April of 1933 was for a Rapid Beer Cooler available for purchase at their factory on Cherry street.

Well whatever this radio is, whoever built it did a good job. It still works. 2 RF stages, a detector and 2 audio stages. I hooked it up to a Radiola 100A speaker and the first time I put power to it, it fired right up. 970 WZAN, daytime DX all the way from Portland, Me. I traced out the wiring and came up with this schematic.
The wiring. The wiring traced out.
So that's the operational part of this rehab. I'm in the process now of re-doing the cabinet. Fixing the broken back corner of the cabinet and trying my luck at a decent finish. We'll see how it turns out.