Berec Demon battery powered portable radio

[JEWilson]

Could members give me an indication as to how much this set is worth in
the condition described in the attached pictures?

Thanks in advance?

[Sideband]

It's worth what people are prepared to pay for it! Basically it looks the same as an Ever Ready Sky Leader and there are many of those from £5 to £20 depending on condition. I think Berec were the export version of Ever Ready but I stand to be corrected on that issue.

Yours has a printed circuit board so it is probably later than a Sky Leader but still worth about the same.

[G.Castle]

Later Sky Leaders (PCB not chassis built) look internally exactly as that.

[Viscount]

i would recon about £10 in that conditition

[Paul_RK]

That style of cabinet was used for all Sky Leaders, so this could be a Sky Leader but for the badge. Berec Demons are also found in an alternative cabinet style. I can't disagree with the value estimates already given - there seem to be a few keen Ever Ready collectors, as some of their early transistor models which are hard to find command much higher prices, but Sky Leaders/ Demons are still easy to find. There was a carrying strap, broad and robust, which could be attached or removed very quickly and easily, so 60 years on the vast majority of them have gone missing.

Paul

[David G4EBT]

Untested, maybe a fiver, but if you power it up and it works (which it probably will), a tenner.

Paradoxically, there are those (and I'm one) for whom the more dilapidated and beyond redemption an item is, the more appeal that it has. Your BEREC radio comfortably fits that description. Most of the radios I have are what might be termed 'basket case' - cracked Bakelite cabinets, damaged veneer on wooden cabinets, missing knobs, missing backs, which I've then restored. Anything which is complete, undamaged and just needs cleaning has little appeal to me - it's for 'collectors' not restorers.

My hobby is restoration - not collecting. I'm a collector by default as once I've restored something, I don't want to part with it.

To my mind, the definition of 'junk' is 'useful objects in the wrong hands'.

If you don't wish to restore it yourself, I'm sure it will find a buyer on the forum who has a similar mindset to mine, albeit it's not especially collectable.

As an aside 'BEREC' - British Ever Ready Electrical Company, has an interesting history:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Britis...trical_Company

[Tractionist]

I couldn't have said that better David!

[Tractorfan]

Hi,
My aunty had one of those during my early years. It was badged as 'Ever Ready' rather than 'BEREC'.
I wonder why the difference? Were they for different markets?
I have a BEREC steel cased valve battery radio. Possibly for overseas markets. I can't remember off hand which bands it has.
Cheers, Pete.

[Paul_RK]

Originally Posted by Tractorfan

Hi,
My aunty had one of those during my early years. It was badged as 'Ever Ready' rather than 'BEREC'.
I wonder why the difference? Were they for different markets?

I suspect in this instance it was mainly a case of different retail outlets. There are a lot of Sky Leaders around, but Berec Demons aren't nearly so uncommon as they would be had they been for export, and I'm not sure there was ever much of an export market for LW/MW portables.

The other model is a Berec Pioneer - it was offered with different combinations of SW bands with, usually, MW, according to the territory it was bound for.

https://www.radiomuseum.org/r/berec_pioneer.html

Strictly an export set by intention, but surplus examples were offered ready built or as kits through PW and suchlike for quite some time in the '60s.

Paul