L ast week, in our review of Jamie Breese's new Antiques Manual, the Bristol-based TV presenter spoke of the potential collectability of various pioneering pieces of new technology – the earliest computers, mobile phones and so on. He added iPods to that list, stressing, as is the case with so many collectables, the importance of condition and packaging.

In the book he looks beyond the advances in technology of recent years and assesses the market for vintage television sets. This is the kind of topic that makes everyone over a certain age sit down and weep, since many of those infuriating old boxes we used to bang the top of and irritatedly adjust the horizontal hold of are now worth a good deal more than our dads paid for them in the first place.

"Vintage sets, or those from before World War II, are the most valuable and will set you back, if in good order, anywhere between £500 and £4,500," Jamie writes. "Most other examples, from the Fifties to the present, are worth far less. An exception would be the groovy, space-age JVC Videosphere, or the first non-valve set made by Sony in the Sixties.

"By far the most wonderful TV set ever made is the iconic British Bush model TV22. This is the pinnacle in Bakelite plastic design, and though it is not the rarest, it is certainly going that way, as the sets were quite fragile.

"Keep your eyes peeled for those early wooden sets. Look for model and manufacturer details on the back saying Marconi 702, HMV 901 or 902, which are all from 1936; Cossor also made early sets. Look also for Sony's famous TV8 portable – it was the world's first transistor set – or even Sinclair's ground-breaking MTV1A, the world's first pocket set, from 1977."

Jamie's love affair with the Bush TV12 and TV22A has him looking out for them in film and television period dramas, and he's rarely disappointed. "Though this was the cheapest telly in the Bush range, the original cost was an astounding £43 8s, which put it out of reach of most people, as the average weekly take-home pay was about £8," he writes.

"Plenty were made of both models, and today both black and brown versions change hands for £300-£400. Despite rumours that many of these classic sets were taken to Japan and turned into novelty fish tanks in the Eighties, there are still quite a number of them around.

"Some vintage telly specialists can convert these sets with a kit to allow them to work again, and in glorious colour, too. And Bush are still manufacturing televisions today."

Jamie notes one final irony. Back then, even if you were affluent enough to afford the Bakelite TV22, there was always some clever-dick down the road who had the "de-luxe" wooden model.

So who has the last laugh now?

"Despite being more expensive at the time, it is now worth only £60," Jamie notes – which, of course, is not a great deal more than it cost new. We always told you the collecting bug can lead to all sorts of unsuspected delights.

Collectables Manual: Cash in on the Credit Crunch, by TV's Jamie Breese, Haynes Publishing, £16.99.