The 1931 Echophone 60 - Early Superhet - and the Cathedral Radio par Excellence

In a Nutshell
Rose windows in Cathedrals around the world have inspired this filigree radio front, here's the west entrance window in Prague's St. Vitus Cathedral, made around 1927 by Frantisek Kysela, for comparison

Introduction:
In 1929 - 1931 several so-called "midget" or "mantle" radios came on the market, to set them apart from the then usual console radios. Philco called their 1930 model 20 a "console radio in a table cabinet". Today Philco's model 20 and the June 1931 models 70 and 90 are said to be the mother-of-all "cathedral" radios, the name being used since the 1960's. You hopefully will agree with me when I bestow this title to the Echophone 60, presented here. I have little to add to Philco collector Paul Turney's rave review of the Echophone 60 in ref. 1 below ("the most visually appealing radio ever made"). Technically the early Superhet design is very similar to that of the Philco 70, the Echophone's intermediate frequency being even lower (175 kHz) than Philco's (260 kHz) and much lower than the common 450 kHz used later. The original price tag of $53.75 for the radio is a hefty $790 in today's currency.
Little is known about Echophone's history, as is the case for most small radio companies entering the new Superhet market at the end of the 1920's. Recounting the story from "The Radio Shop" to successor Hallicrafters, Alan Douglas brings us this little in vol.3 of his invaluable radio collector's guide. Even less is known about the Canadian distributor Trestrail Corporation (pict.s 21,22). Under historians (see below) I summarized what I was able to research.

Additional information:
 ref.1.    http://www.tuberadioland.com/echophone60_main.html
 ref.2.    "Radio Manufacturers of the 1920's", by Alan Douglas, Vol.3
 ref.3.    "The Early Development of Radio in Canada 1901-1930", by Robert P. Murray
 ref.4.    http://www.nostalgiaair.org


About my radio:
I bought the radio at an estate auction here in Vancouver. The radio was professionally, responsibly, and conservatively refinished in authentic tones and not following the new high-gloss trend. Of the 3 knobs one was different (see 3rd from top left in pict.28). In searching for the correct knobs one is on one's own (see pict.28), but there are several indicators (one is probability theory) that the two rare same knobs are the correct ones. They are certainly the best choice, regarding the color match with the speaker cloth, and the floral design match with the speaker grille geometry (pict.16). I fortunately found the missing knob on-line. The tubes were tested and found to be all above average specifications. Three are Marconi branded, four are of the collectible globe type, especially the large rectifier tube UX280 by RVC is valuable, the 24 was replaced by an equivalent Westinghouse 235. I replaced only the most critical capacitors, again following soft restoration lines. The chassis is cleaned and in-depth serviced. All moving parts have been treated with contact spray. The radio plays loud and clear on AM/BC, where it has good sensitivity and selectivity over the whole band spread. Please e-mail me (Kris) for any questions or comments, ich spreche Deutsch, je parle Français.

For the historians only:
Almost nothing can be found about "The Trestrail Corporation" (pict.s 21,22). ARF member Ed Kraushar answered my respective questions: "Trestrail represented Echophone in Canada for the USA made radios until Echophone started building in Canada in 1931. After that they still represented Echophone for the Canadian made radios. Apparently they made some radios for Canadian Marconi".
There are several old newspaper articles (The Ottawa Evening Citizen, Presto) and ref.3 above, that mention two brothers, Bert (sometimes also Burt or Burdick) A. and Fred A. Trestrail, "two young men, born in the United States, who have established themselves in the Canadian music industry over a long period of years". In 1929 they headed "R. S. Williams Co., Ltd. Toronto", a widely known Toronto music house, and one of Canada's largest businesses of the kind, as president and vice-president, respectively. Fred and Bert also were directors (vice-president and treasurer, respectively) of "The QRS Music Company of Canada Ltd.", a subsidiary of QRS of Chicago and active in the player-piano, radio and phonograph business, which was distributor in the entire Dominion for Rogers Batteryless Radio and Grigsby-Grunow (Majestic) Radio. The brothers also reorganized the dealership net in Ontario for DeForest-Crosley radios. In 1930/31 Bert A. Trestrail was a vice-president and head of the sales department ("merchandising genius") of Rogers Majestic. Two days after the funeral for Ted Rogers on May 8, 1939, the Canadian Radio Corporation (CRC) published a "two-page Memoriam letter about Edward S. Rogers Sr., written by Burdick A. Trestrail, vice president of the CRC, and longstanding friend and partner of Edward S. Rogers Sr. since 1925." In the early 1940's Burdick Trestrail became known Canada-wide through his crusade ("Social Suicide") against the Co-operative Commonwealth Federation (CCF), a socialist party founded in 1932 in Calgary, and precedessor of today's New Democratic Party (NDP). He died Dec.10, 1949 in St. Thomas, Ontario.
I did not find any direct reference for "The Trestrail Corporation" and its whatabouts.

Here are the specifications:

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