Your help needed: Peerless Radios

The Peerless brand name was very popular in the first half of the 20th century. There is a plethora of radio models, companies, trade marks etc. that carry this name or variations thereof. The number of companies that you can find on this website is in the range of a dozen already - however that's only a fraction of the complete picture.

This makes attribution of a radio set or other devices to a single manufacturer entry a challenge not only for you, but also for our model administrators, especially if only the name is known and your device has no further information about the company that built the radio.

In an attempt to correct a few of our listings and to attribute a number of radios not in radiomuseum yet correctly, I researched the Peerless brands and compiled the below list of entities.

As you might know, listings in the the Radio Collector's Guide can be difficult to attribute to a single manufacturer, and also SAMS just lists the "Peerless" brand in their Master Index, apparently making no difference between possibly differing origins.

How can you help?

• If you own brochures, advertisements, folders etc., please send them to us for evaluation. We don't need the originals, decent pictures or scans will do just fine.
• If you own a Peerless radio set that is already listed, please send some images (logos, stickers, type plates, back cover etc) so we can add the data and the pictures to the model, and perhaps relocate it to the correct manufacturer.
• If you own a Peerless radio set that we do not yet have listed, please do the same, including more information such as tube line-up and physical dimensions and a full view picture of the set. As a member you can suggest a new model entry yourself, or use this thread to show some information. As a guest, please use our contact form.
• We have already conducted extensive online searches - if you have time to spare, you can search the internet for additional information yourself of course. Most resources have already been covered however - but every day, new digitized catalogs, newspapers and magazines are made available, so new information might be available.

Thank you for participating in this effort.

The following list is meant to give you an overview of the known companies. They may or may not be related, and we do not yet know which of these is a misnomer or a predecessor or successor of one of the existing Peerless. Most certainly only a select few of these companies still existed in the 1930s.

• Peerless Electric Co., Birch St, Zeigler IL - founded 1923, listed in Radio World's Radio Merchandising section (1923)
• Peerless Electric Co. of Minneapolis MN - speaker distributors (1923)
• Peerless Electrical Co., 227 S 5th Ave, Minneapolis MN - distributors for FADA, Call Sign 9CNH (1925), perhaps the same as before? (1935)
• Peerless Electric Supply Co., 122 S Meridian St., Indianapolis IN - distributors for Edison radios (1930)
• Peerless Electrical Parts Co., 105 Harris, Rochester NY - offered kits to build chargers (1923)
• Peerless Radio Co., 2348 W Cullteron, Chicago IL - representatives wanted (1922)
• Peerless Radio Co., 71 Third Ave., New York - sold Brandes phones (1923)
• Peerless Radio Corp., today Peerless Electronis, Lynbrook NY - founded as Peerless Radio Corp in 1945, today distributor of electronics - uncertain if they ever built radios or related material, but possible
• Peerless Radio Equipment Co., 63 4th Ave, New York - looking for jobbers, large wholesaler, probably not a manufacturer (1922)
• Peerless Radio Laboratories, a Mr. Wiebach and a Mr. Henry Jr of Rochester NY, doing business as

 

Companies that are already listed in radiomuseum.org:

• Peerless Electrical Products Co., later div. of Altec-Lansing, of Los Angeles - makers of amplifiers, transformers etc.
• Peerless Mfg. Co., Chigaco IL - makers of battery eliminators
• Peerless Radio Company (1924), formerly / also Peerless Radio Supply Co. (1923), 723 Market St., San Francisco CA - makers of sets
• Peerless Radio Co., 109 Main Street, Hamilton OH - looking for agents to sell "wireless radio telephone" (1922)
• Peerless Radio Corp., 19 Washington St., Wellesley MA later Boston, MA - makers of condensers, transformers
• Peerless Radio Corp., 2527 Parl Avenue, Chicago IL - makers of the Electradyne sets (1925)
• Peerless Radio Laboratories, 50 2nd St, San Francisco CA, maker of radio sets in the first half of the 1920s
• Peerless Wireless Co., 4110 Van Dyke Ave., Detroit MI - distributors for Michigan of Star Mfg. Co. Products (1922), also mentioned in Crystal Clear, vol II, p. 145

 

Companies that used Peerless as model names and/or trademarks include:

• Philmore Mfg. Co. of New York - made one detector set with a Peerless logo style that can also be found on later tube radios of the 1930s
• National Vulcanized Fibre Co. of Wilmington Delaware, produced "Peerless Insulation" in 1929
• Pyle, H.S. of Bremerton, Washington, offering Peerless V.T. Controls in 1920
• The Standard Service Co., 312-316 East 8th St., Cincinnati OH, manufacturers of Peerless Radio Products - looking for agents to handle Peerless, advertising as "Peerless Radio Outfits"  (1922)
• Uncle Dave's Radio Shack, 356 Broadway, Albany NY - sold Peerless amplifiers and Ham equipment; maker of these is unknown (1930s)
• United Radio Corp. / United Reproducer Corp. Rochester NY - makers of the well-known Peerless Magnetic and Dynamic speakers until ca. 1930. The name and logotype was later appropriated by Danish manufacturer Peerless Fabrikkerne (see below)
• Titan Miniature Lamp Co., 281 Glenwood Ave., Bloomfield, NJ, makers of Peerless tubes (early 1920s)

 

Outside the USA, there are a few more "Peerless":

• Peerless, UK, a brand for radio parts, manufacturer currently unknown
• Peerless Mfg. Co. Ltd. - Sydney and Redfern, NSW, Australia - makers of moulded products, also for the radio industry
• Peerless Fabrikkerne A/S of Denmark - makes of Peerless speakers, continued use of the gothic font logo type of United Radio's and United Reproducer's Peerless speakers
• Peerless Metal Works of Melbourne, Australia, manufacturer of chassis cans and other radio parts
• Peerless Radio Company, 20 Clifton Street, Adelaide, Australia (1940), manufactured radios
• Peerless Radio Company, 16 Seymour St, Hurstville, Australia, manufacturer of radios, founded 1947
• Peerless Radio Valve Corp. Ltd. of Montreal, Canada - a tube brand of Philips
   
• Bedford Electrical and Radio Co. Ltd., of Bedford, UK, makers of Peerless radio sets.
• Paris-France (also known as Paris-Toulouse and other names) of Paris, France, with Peerlessphone radios and gramophones

 

We have also introduced two generic entries for Peerless:

• Peerless brand entry for far-east transistor and tube devices that were made in Japan, Hong Kong, Taiwan etc. and sold (primarily?) in the USA
• Peerless (unknown - see forum) for models that cannot be attributed to a company yet

 

Companies unrelated to the radio business (there are probably many more):

• Peerless Electric Co. in Warren OH - distributed Electric Fans under the Peerless brand (1932)
• Peerless Mfg. Co. of New York - manufacturer of records "Peerless albums" (Talking Machine magazine, 1922)
• Peerless-Premier in Belleville IL - makers of oven ranges etc.
• Peerless Instrument Co., 2732 E. 71th St., Indianapolis IN 46220 - automotive measuring devices (1983) - other address: 6101 Gross Point Road, Chicago IL 60648

 

I will add more information as it becomes available. Again thank you for your help.

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I have a Peerless radio from the early 1930's.  There is no manufacturer but the Peerless name tag on the front.  This could really be from anyone.  I wish I could be more help.

Attachments:

• Peerless 5-tube Superhetrodyne (58 KB)

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Hello Robin,

Thanks - every little bit helps. I had already created this specific radio as model Unknown 3 with images taken from worthpoint. Perhaps you can upload a close-up of the logo, and an inside view, and make the necessary changes to the model?

That would be great!

By the way, if you prefer, we can replace the images and rewrite them as belonging to your collection.

Thanks,
Mark

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Some minor changes were made, and the Peerless Radio Company (with unknown location) added.

Mark

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Hi Mark,

There were two Peerless companies associated with radios in Australia during the 1930’s.

Peerless Mfg. Co. Ltd., as you have found, manufacturers of moulded Bakelite Coil Formers, Valve Sockets, Speaker Plugs and Peerless Metal Works, Redfern NSW, manufacturers of coil & valve cans.

I’ll propose both.

I have also proposed the Adelaide, Peerless Radio Company.

That should be all for Australia I would think.

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Thank you Gary, for your exceptional work.

With the help of Alan Larsen (thank you, too) I could add the Peerless Radio Co. in San Francisco and finally create some models that I knew of for many years, but was not able to attribute correctly.

As a reminder: this effort is not only focussed on finding all the "Peerless" that ever existed, but also to find the correct manufacturer for the modles listed here.

Generally, if anyone owns such a radio and can contribute data - or add more to the list, please contact us here in the forum, or me vial link 'mail to author' or with the contact form here.

Thanks,
Mark

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Hello Mark,

I just came across "Peerless" whilst looking at a 1928 trade paper.

This lists some reprodcers (cabinet loudspeakers) not all of which RM lists.

Not radios per se, but just a small addition!

Kind regards,

Roy

Attachments:

• "Peerless" Reproducers of 1928 (127 KB)

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I have found a transistor radio ca. 1966 on Ebay USA item 203595470602 complete with original box and documentation, with the Peerless name on the front, probably of far eastern manufacture.The name and address in the documentation is:

Peerless-Telerad Inc., 22 West 27th Street, New York 1, New York

Registration details in 1966 

I suspect that it is this RMOrg manufacturer/distributor,

Peerless-Telerad are mentioned as the US distributor, their address is now known. The set on ebay model FM1155 appears as the (C) 11 transistor FM-AM portable on the second catalogue page.

Attachments:

• peerless_label (43 KB)

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I have just completed restoring a radio badged as Peerless.  It appears to be the exact same radio as manufacturered in 1937 by Pacific Radio from Chicago (model 37-6322) as listed in RM.  Do let me know if there is any interest in a picture of the chassis. 

Attachments:

• peerless radio cabinet (69 KB)
• peerless radio badge (67 KB)

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