Fall 2026 Militaria and Aviation Auction
Lot 160:
Description
Three Burgess No. XX69 1031/2-Volt "B" Dry Cell Batteries with Original Retail Sleeves and Master Shipping Carton – Commercial Equivalent to Signal Corps BA-38 for the BC-611/SCR-536 Handie-Talkie, Burgess Battery Company, Freeport, Illinois, circa Late 1940s-1950s Offered here is a rare surviving set of three Burgess No. XX69 1031/2-volt "B" batteries, still nested together in their original master shipping carton. The XX69 was a specialized high-voltage dry cell built for portable transceivers of the postwar era, and while sold commercially rather than under military contract, it is dimensionally and functionally the direct civilian counterpart to the Signal Corps BA-38 – the plate-voltage battery paired with the low-voltage BA-37 "A" cell inside the legendary BC-611 Handie-Talkie of the SCR-536 radio set. No individual recipient or unit history attaches to a battery lot of this kind; its interest rests in its originality, its packaging, and its technical lineage to one of the most recognizable pieces of American handheld signal equipment. The BC-611 was the U.S. Army’s first true pocket-carried two-way radio, issued to infantry, paratroopers, and beachhead signalmen from North Africa and the Pacific through the Korean War, and its vacuum-tube circuitry depended on exactly this kind of slim, high-voltage dry cell to supply plate current. Because batteries were consumable field items meant to be exhausted and discarded, most that circulate today among militaria and vintage-radio collectors are loose, stripped cells; a matched trio still boxed together, as offered here, is a genuinely scarce companion piece for a BC-611 or SCR-536 exhibit or display. Each of the three individual battery sleeves carries the bold black, white, and cream candy-stripe graphic scheme with a red "XX69 Burgess Radio ‘B’ Battery" cartouche to the face and the 1031/2-volt marking to the end panel. The reverse of each sleeve is printed with technical text describing the cell as a "1031/2 volt ‘B’ battery for handie-talkie type two-way portable receivers, " instructing the user to "replace with Burgess No. XX69 for continued satisfaction, " together with Burgess’s 1917 copyright and trademark registration line and the internal code "635." Top contact ends show light oxidation and dulling consistent with age. The outer corrugated shipping carton is printed "THREE BURGESS No. XX69 1031/2 Volt ‘B’ Batteries, P1646, 635B, Burgess Battery Company, Freeport, Illinois, " and one panel retains an intact St. Regis Paper Company singlewall box-certificate stamp. No additional radio equipment, documents, or accessories accompany this lot beyond the three batteries and their two layers of original packaging. Condition is very good for the type: the cells are long-expired display items only and are not functional, with minor edge wear, light surface rubbing, and small corner dings to the individual sleeves, and mild toning, surface staining, edge bumping, and remnants of original tape to the outer shipping carton. A well-preserved and rarely-seen boxed set that speaks directly to the field power supply behind America’s first true handheld combat radio.
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