I’ve always wondered what it would be like to open up my own museum. Well, one man in Britain did just that, specifically with old radios, televisions and gramphones. They fill every room in his south London suburb home. This do-it-yourself museum, called the British Vintage Wireless and Television Museum, was started by 82 year old collector Gerry Wells, who owns more than 1,500 wireless objects (plus 45,000 valves!) making it the UK’s largest collection. It all started back in 1943 when Gerry stole his first radio, a Belmont. A psychiatrist diagnosed an “obsession with wireless and electricity”…and obviously that obsessive behaviour has just grown with time. Open by appointment only since 1974, the museum covers every decade since the end of the 19th century with an early German-made Rhumpkorm from 1895 until the present day with a modern day wireless bought by Gerry to use while taking a bath. There is a saying that “everyone is a collector” and I believe this to be true. The earliest form of collecting, privately displayed in one’s own home, was used to enhance the status, wealth and power of the collector. Even though people still collect art to gain money and influence, the private collectors of today I usually share with you, whether it’s people with a house full of toy bunnies or troll dolls, are all about obsessive attachment, not that there’s anything wrong with that, but it’s interesting how the meaning of objects has changed over the centuries.
British Vintage Wireless and Television Museum
