The black-and-white Marconiphone 702 would have cost the equivalent of 11,000 pounds.
The British-made set - built to show the coronation of King George VI in 1937 - has no channel changer as the BBC was the sole broadcaster at the time, The Sun reported.
The antique television set is the pride of engineer Jeffrey Borinsky's vintage telly collection and he still watches it.
The screen sits in the cabinet and the images are reflected in a viewing mirror.
A set-top box was added to the set to convert it from analogue to digital.
"If I could only keep one of my 20 vintage TVs, it would be this one," he said.