In a Nutshell
Rare Space Age B&W TV made by Sanyo for Sears Roebuck in 1975

Introduction:
On Oct. 4, 1957, the Soviet Union launched world's first satellite, Sputnik 1 into an orbit around planet earth, and 4 weeks later Sputnik 2 with dog Laika on board. This surprise success started the space race and what we today call the space age, succeeding but still being part of the atomic age, and precipitating the cold war between USSR and USA. First US launches (Vanguard) were disastrous, but the foundation of NASA in 1958 made missions like Pioneer 4, Mercury, Gemini, and finally Apollo great successes. The Apollo program was launched to do space exploration around (but not on) the Moon. Speaking to Congress and the Nation, President John F. Kennedy on May 25, 1961 radically altered the direction of the program by saying: "I believe that this nation should commit itself to achieving the goal, before this decade is out, of landing a man on the Moon and returning him safely to Earth. No single space project in this period will be more impressive to mankind, or more important in the long-range exploration of space; and none will be so difficult or expensive to accomplish". The projected price tag was an incredible $25 billion dollars. On July 16-24, 1969 Apollo 11 (Columbia and Eagle) on a Saturn V with the astronauts Neil A. Armstrong (commander), Michael Collins (CM pilot), Edwin E. (Buzz) Aldrin Jr. (LM pilot) accomplished the first manned lunar landing and lunar surface exploration (EVA), watched by over 500 million people around the world. From then on, amplified by the Challenger and Columbia space shuttle accidents in 1986 and 2003 and the fall of the Soviet Union in 1991 public perception of space exploration got dominated by its dangers (Apollo 13, the Film 1995, "Houston, we have a problem") and costs (conspiracy advocates are still convinced that the moon landing was faked by using left-over scenes from Stanley Kubrick's 1968 movie "2001: A Space Odyssey"); space exploration shifted to unmanned missions and to the private sector, respectively. Scientific and military progress had triggered Googie and atomic age designs in architecture and industry and space age designs for basic commodities, fashion, music and arts. A prominent example is the 1957 flatware made by Arne Jacobsen (pict.22 of my Video Capsule writeup), used in the Space Odyssey and still sold after 57 years for $20 a piece on eBay.
The 1975 Sears model 5019 black and white TV is the fifth of five space age TV's for sale. The first 3 digits of Sears' model numbers designate the manufacturer, 564 (and 565, 566) standing for Sanyo. 1975 model 564.50190500 (short model 5019) is rare and seems to have been made only in ivory and exclusively for Sears (Sanyo often also produced the same or similar model under their own name). The smoked acrylic front cover lets the TV look like a robots head with the two large UHF and VHF rotary dials left and right resembling its ears. This TV like the Philco has a 9" large screen and features a practical integrated top handle (pict.15). Picture 20 shows all 5 TV's for sale. This Sears is the rarest and cheapest of all.

Additional information:
ref.1: http://www.radiomuseum.org/r/sears_roeb_564_50190500_5019.html

About my Sears SanyoTV:
The TV is in mint visual and working condition. There are no scratches on the cabinet or on the acrylic front cover. The 38" antenna is original, complete, straight and corrosionless. The set was tested with a VCR connected directly to the antenna with a piece of wire. The better way would be the use of a 75/300 ohm TV antenna transformer adapter, readily available in many thrift stores and on eBay. Watch a short video (click on pict.22) with the TV playing a section of "Casablanca". During the video volume, contrast and brightness tests are performed. The picture has good brightness and contrast and the sound is perfect. The blackened-out parts of the screen in some of the still photos are caused by missing synchronisation between camera and TV and are absent in live view. Please e-mail me (Kris) for any questions, ich spreche Deutsch, je parle Français.

Here are the specifications:

Please have a look at prices and more radios, phonographs and gramophones  here