Help identifying Nixie

[Oskar]

I recently acquired these two Nixie tubes. I was mostly interested in them because one had copper legs. Unfortunately, they are unmarked. They look almost identical to Mullard ZM1175s but the pinout and key orientation do not match. Does anyone recognize them?

Thanks

Oskar

[Leroy Jones]

Perhaps Chinese QS 18-12 ?

[bogdan paduraru]

Cool find Oskar 

Seems that there is a number written on the back , both of them have the same number? 

I doubt that any Chinese made nixie is near to the quality of these 

On 18 Jan 2026, at 18:25, Leroy Jones <leroypu...@gmail.com> wrote:

Perhaps Chinese QS 18-12 ?

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[Oskar]

One says 280 and the other 387

[Nicholas Stock]

Looks like a Japanese style CD nixie due to the horizontal mesh wires... maybe CD66A?

https://www.nixies.us/bwg_gallery/cd66a/

Nick

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[Bogdan Paduraru]

The same structure is shared with the ZM117X series too ,  the tube seem to bi similar to ZM1175 but missing some internal components .

Looks like I ve got something similar in my collection too
Could be some preproduction samples  made by Philips /Mullard ?

[Paul Andrews]

The number of leads and layout (13 with a gap) matches ZM1175, you should check the assignment against a datasheet. The Japanese CD66 has 12 leads with no gap.

[Robert G. Schaffrath]

They look very similar to my Japanese Rodan GR-111Pa tubes though the Rodan's have clear marking on the back identifying them.

[Oskar]

I drew up the pinout of the tubes; the NC leads are shortened. Maybe this helps. Also, pinout of ZM1175 for comparison.

My gut feeling says Japanese production, too. Many of my Japanese tubes also have similar pencil (?) markings inside.

[bogdan paduraru]

GR111 is 13 mm digit while this one is 15.5

Also the decimal point on Rodan is not full.

I think they are made at Mullard factory or at least on the same place that the ZM1175 were made : the anode is isolated the same way as the zm1175, decimal point seems identical although its smaller on production series .

I dont find similarities with any of my Nec CD66As.

Any one here has any of ZM1175 that could be measured? The non marked tube seems to be taller than my production tubes 

On 19 Jan 2026, at 19:18, 'Oskar' via neonixie-l <neoni...@googlegroups.com> wrote:

I drew up the pinout of the tubes; the NC leads are shortened. Maybe this helps. Also, pinout of ZM1175 for comparison.

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