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This was originally designed before World War Two as a 455 set by
the French television inventor Barthelemy. When the Germans occupied
France during World War Two, the Paris transmitter was converted to 441
lines. After the war the French continued with the 441 line standard
until they introduced their 819 line system. This set was
completed and sold just after the war in 1946 for the 441 line
standard. This is one of the earliest postwar French sets.
David winter provided the following additional information:
| Finally, more information from Mr Poinsignon concerning your
CdC TV. After I got him on the phone, I learned that your CdC
TV is a true 441 line TV (if you restore it, you will
eventually verify in the V-hold circuits). There were three
production runs: two runs of 20 sets and a last run of 30 sets,
yours being part of this last one. Therefore, only 70 sets were
ever made, which makes yours quite rare. The TV-49 model does not
refer to 1949 but just stands for the 49th specimen because there
simply was NO real model! This means that you own the 9th specimen
of the 3rd run. Mr Poinsignon worked for Barthelemy and was
present during the manufacture of these sets, and their
destruction, since they had to be returned once the 441-line
emitters got destroyed. Remember, these sets were only
experimental. |

A 1945 picture of a similar set
(Courtesy of Jerome Halphen)
Thanks to David Winter for his help in procuring this set
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