People actually are capable of being careful with an item and treating it nicely in order to keep it pristine over the years, especially if it's something unusual that they care about. But even if it was just taken out of the box yesterday and it works, that's a good sign of its BIFL status. Many electronics that sit dormant for decades don't work because the capacitors and other parts spoil not being used.

I have an SOSL radio as well, different model, it has been in use almost daily for decades, and it looks almost this nice. Admittedly it is built pretty cheaply and has needed DeoxIT several times, but it still works otherwise. So while it may seem cheap, it has lasted this long and what didn't last was easily repirable. Don't judge a book by its cover.

(and by the way this is a manual post approval sub, the mods already saw this)