About the National Vintage Communications Fair

The NVCF is an antique-type collectors fair specialising in early technology and featuring thousands of rare and collectable items such as early radios, television receivers, gramophones, telephones, classic valve hi-fi and all manner of electrical and mechanical antiques and collectables.

Established in 1992, the fair is held in late Spring at the Warwickshire Exhibition Centre and attracts over 200 stallholders (dealers, private sellers and clubs) from the UK, the continent, and the USA. The NVCF is owned and run by the British Vintage Wireless Society, and is open to everyone.

For the seasoned collector, attending the fair is a must, and not only useful for seeking out that special elusive item, but also for buying materials, circuit diagrams or spare parts to complete a restoration project.

For newcomers thinking about starting a collection, help and advice are always on hand from many of the country's leading collectors' clubs, societies and specialist magazines.

What's There?

Areas covered and the items usually offered for sale include:

Vintage Radio and Broadcasting

  • Crystal sets
  • 1920s valve receivers
  • Mains wireless sets
  • Battery portables
  • Amateur and shortwave radio
  • Military and communications receivers
  • Pocket transistor radios
  • Horn loudspeakers
  • Headphones
  • Pirate radio recordings and memorabilia
  • Valves and components
  • Service sheets
  • Speaker cloth

Classic Vable Audio and Hi-Fi

  • Amplifiers
  • Control units
  • Loudspeaker enclosures and drive-units
  • Pick-ups
  • Audio valves, PX4s, PX25s and KT66s etc
  • Components
  • Tuners
  • P.A., guitar, stage and cinema amplifiers
  • Microphones
  • Record turntables
  • Reel-to-reel tape recorders
  • Cassette recorders
  • CD players

Early Telephones and Equipment

  • Candlestick telephones
  • Wooden wall phones
  • Room-to-room intercoms
  • Office phones
  • Novelty telephones
  • Handset cords
  • Spare parts
  • Bakelite type 200s and 300s
  • G.P.O. signs
  • Telephone kiosks and fittings
  • Pillar, wall and lamp post boxes

Gramophones, Phonographs
and Recordings

  • Wind-up horn gramophones
  • Table gramophones
  • Electric pick-ups
  • Gramophone needles and needle tins
  • Springs
  • Soundboxes
  • Horns
  • Spares
  • 1950s/1960s record players
  • Dansettes
  • Cylinders
  • 78s, 45s, LPs & CDs.

Film and Television

  • Pre-war TVs
  • 1950s black and white televisions
  • Television lamps
  • Old Radio Times and TV Times magazines
  • Early video recorders
  • TV cameras and obsolete studio equipment
  • Test cards/music and trade test colour films
  • Magic lanterns
  • Vintage films
  • Movie cameras
  • Box cameras
  • Projectors and lamps

Electrical and Mechanical Antiques
and Collectables

  • Scientific instruments
  • Typewriters
  • Telegraph instruments
  • Sewing machines
  • Early calculators
  • Musical boxes
  • Polyphons
  • Player pianos and piano rolls
  • Optical toys
  • Light bulbs
  • ... and so much more!

Clubs and Societies at the Fair

Being a high-profile, well-established national event, the National Vintage Communications Fair is recognised as an ideal platform for collecting organisations and groups involved in vintage sound and vision hobbies to promote and publicise their activities, and also to capture new members.

The Fair sponsors and supports the City of London Phonograph & Gramophone Society (CLPGS) and the Telecommunications Heritage Group (THG) and is also attended by many of the country's other leading collectors' clubs and societies.