Interest in radios from the art deco period has boomed in the past few years. One spark was the staging of the World Congress of Art Deco in Melbourne in 2007, where a keynote speaker was Sydney dentist Dr Peter Sheridan. His amazing collection (featured on this page at the time) has an emphasis on Australia's AWA bakelite radios of the 1930s. These were featured in the National Gallery of Victoria's art deco exhibition in 2008.

Later that year, Sheridan and fellow enthusiast Ritchie Singer published a full-colour coffee-table book, Radio Days: Australian Bakelite Radios.

On March 21, another landmark event will take place when a significant radio collection is sold through the Leonard Joel auction house in Melbourne. It was accumulated in a relatively short time by a private collector who prefers to remain anonymous. The vendor focused on the best examples from around the world and bought from several specialist auctions including the Mark Woolley Collection at Bonhams, New York, in December 2007.

Peter Sheridan has helped prepare the Leonard Joel catalogue and expects a feeding frenzy for the Australian items listed.

The US component is particularly strong, especially for radios featuring the use of catalin, a type of plastic introduced in the 1930s. Catalin radios were limited in size but allowed for a radical new range of colours that are startling even by today's standards. There were about 25 radio manufacturers in the US alone and prominent designers from the American Moderne movement were attracted by this new technology.

Sheridan suggests there should be some overseas interest in the Leonard Joel sale but adds that most of these designs are widely available in the US via internet sites such as catalinradio.com. Transport costs and the state of the US economy could also be a negative factor.

One exception should be a rare example of the Sparton Nocturne, a Holy Grail item for many radio collectors.

Designed by Walter Dorwin Teague circa 1936, these are now ranked up there with the Coke bottle and the Volkswagen as a design icon. The Nocturne is not plastic; it features a cobalt blue circle of mirrored glass with brushed chrome details.

As Sheridan says, this radio was considered "too modern" at the time and some mint examples have been found stored in attics in the original packaging.

Similar examples of the Sparton Nocturne have sold for as much as $US80,000 ($89,000) at auctions such as Sotheby's Important 20th Century Design in New York in 2004 and the Pierre Lescure Collection in Paris. Leonard Joel's estimate is $60,000.

There should be plenty of Australians interested. There are hundreds here who'll have one in their living room along with a Scandinavian chair, some Italian art glass and perhaps a JVC VideoSphere TV to form their own private design museum.

The appeal of this style is explained by Sheridan in his catalogue notes.

"In the 1930s, radio became a household necessity and the hub of entertainment in the home. It was a time of experimentation and many well-known industrial designers such as Raymond Loewy, Walter Dorwin Teague, Wells Coates, Harold Van Doren and Norman Bel Geddes contributed to radically different radio designs in the Moderne, Streamline and Jazz Age styles [all of which we now call art deco]."

According to Sheridan, these radios provide a snapshot of the social and cultural changes in the US, Australia, Britain and Europe. For example, they show that women consumers were targeted for perhaps the first time. They also show a tendency for the downsizing of household objects.

The Classic Radio Auction is at Leonard Joel, 333 Malvern Road, South Yarra, Melbourne on March 21. There is a printed catalogue and an online version. Prices quoted here are upper estimates from the catalogue.

MY COLLECTION

One wall of Peter Sheridan's apartment is covered with possibly Australia's best collection of art deco radios.

The AWA brand dominates, including the complete colour range of the Empire State design, with their matching cigarette containers.

Sheridan is a Sydney dentist who was made a Member of the Order of Australia in 2001 for his work with multiple sclerosis sufferers and carers. In 2008, he and fellow enthusiast Ritchie Singer published Radio Days: Australian Bakelite Radios, a book celebrating his and two other significant collections of radios.

Sheridan notes that this book has already sold several thousand copies, an indication many more people share his passion for these beautiful objects.

During a 2007 interview, Sheridan was asked about his fascination for these radios. He said he grew up listening to them and still preferred the unique tone of these vintage sets.

"Pictures out of sound, that's what it's all about," he says. "The light goes on, that little bit of static ... wonderful."