Travel back to 1952, when huge, clunky TVs were still so neat and novel, small piggy bank versions were all the rage

Can you still get a TV with wood paneling? My dear departed paternal grandparents, a couple who started dating in high school as the Great Depression began, still had a TV surrounded by wood (a Zenith) right up until the turn of the century– fake drawers on the bottom and everything. Granted, it wasn’t the stand-up, radio-ish type you see above, but I always wondered if their early familiarity with a primitive first set was what made them gravitate towards boob tubes that looked like they could double as cabinets.

Anyway, if you believe this ad’s puffery, TVs were so whiz-bang and cool back then, you’d be the envy of all your friends by just owning a small, coin-gulping facsimile, one that wouldn’t have to show any pictures, just flash its lights a little bit, like an early Star Trek console. Remember this as you’re watching TV on your Slingbox, or some other modern marvel. Perspective, baby. (One gets the impression that the dazzling pictures purchased by deposited coinage would be a COLOSSAL disappointment.)

Would you prefer this, or a pirate treasure chest bank? YOU DECIDE.