One of these arrived at the auction house today, a 1949 vintage Sparton 4940 "mirror in the lid" TV set.
I remember that back in the mid 1950s, one of our neighbors had one of these TV sets, I used to go
over there to watch those infamous Saturday morning cartoons
The 1949 Sparton 4900 series television was one of a few mirror in the lid sets produced post war. The model 4940TV (Consolette) is television only, another model (4900TV) had a radio and phonograph also. The set is quite compact being only 26" wide, 15" deep and 32" high. Closed up it looks more like a 40's vintage radio.
This set is in near perfect condition, and even includes the original manuals.
It just might follow me home a week from tomorrow night....
FWIW, This is the Sparton 4900, which also had an AM-FM tuner and two-speed VM record changer: