Very early Mullard EL84s with O-getters?


I have two coin-based O-getter EL84s, with no holes in the plates. One tube is branded El-Menco and the other is branded Siemens. The El-Menco shows "Gt Britain" and "164-519" in white print. There are no etched production codes visible on either tube.

My limited understanding is that the earliest Mullard EL84s had coin bases and a "1608" designation (pre rX1). There were a few different factory codes, all indicating 1954 as the year of manufacture. At least some of those tubes (F4 factory code), had no holes in the plate.

The coin base would suggest very early production, but the O-getter, as opposed to disc or square, seems inconsistent with that. Thanks for any helpful comments.
bilbar

Showing 2 responses by racamuti

Those must be some rare tubes! I've never seen EL84's with a coin base. Maybe a tube expert here will know about these.
If nobody answers you should give Charley a call at Vacuum Tube Valley, if anyone should know it would be him.
Good Luck, Tish