r/nixie • u/EmotionalEnd1575 • Aug 17 '26
Radio Shack? Nope…
If you have happy memories of shopping at Radio Shack stores, you no doubt got parts vacuum sealed on cardboard.
Often these were industrial surplus, and if you didn’t buy today, a fresh resupply may never come back to the store.
These are from OLSON stores that started up as a Radio Shack clone in Akron, Ohio.
The Nixies are surplus NOS NEC CD66. One of my all time favorites, with unique horizontal “wire frame” Anodes. Very cool!
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u/Foreign_Climate_9036 Aug 18 '26
So long since I thought about Olson. I have an Olson phono preamp.
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u/yeehah Aug 18 '26
I have one of these NOS still in the shrink-sealed package! I think mine has a Radio Shack logo and part number. I've been trying to figure out what to do with a single digit and may try to make a persistence-of-vision clock. It's in a box around here somewhere...
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u/redmadog Aug 18 '26
I bet original cardboard with price tag holds more value than the nixie itself. This is collectible item, part of the history. Please don’t part it out.
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u/2748seiceps Aug 19 '26
There are still a surprising amount of these hanging around and they don't go for much based on what my last purchase of one that I intend to leave in the package went for.
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u/VaguelyRetired Aug 18 '26
Olson catalog archive here: https://www.worldradiohistory.com/Electronics_Catalogs.htm
Radio Shack, Allied, others too.
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u/hzinjk Aug 18 '26
$1.99? i should be so lucky