Went to the Lancaster show, came back with two paystations

[Fushigi Ojisan]

First of all, I have to say I had a great time, well worth the trip.   A lot smaller than the shows related to my other hobbies, but what it lacked in size it made up for in quality.   Lots of payphones of all vintages, even some in rarer colors, quite a lot to see, a buy.   Also, the sellers were wonderful, especially Mike from Long Island who is going to restore one of my finds.

Here we go

First one I got was a Western Electric, I think its a 223, it didn't have the internal ringer.   The story was it came out of the collection of a retired airline pilot, and the seller had used it as a personal phone before its planned transfer to a pizza parlor as part of an Americana wall art display.  Unfortunately for them, the phone could not be mounted, so it ended up at this show.
The good news is that it was chromed and was in decent shape; the bad news was that it was not "plug-and-play" for home use and would need some work.  Mike from Long Island gave it a once over and told me he could make it into the "resto-mod" phone I wanted; so I left it with him and will contact him after this weekend.   Given the asking price and then Mike's quote for work, I still came out ahead of the game (though shipping costs might change that).    I heard a couple of people say "You bought that?  You got a good deal" so I felt pretty good.

What happened next was I did not heed the advice of my brother-in-law to stop shopping once I bought what I wanted.

So I walk out and past the table I saw when I first came in (the seller wasn't there) and on the table is a beat-to-death Automatic Electric and a chromed ten-button Northern Electric.   The latter had a cable out of the back, which tells me someone may have already converted it for home use.  I ask if I can "borrow" it to test something and the seller agreed.  So I took it to the group that had set up a network with vintage equipment and asked them if they could plug it in to test.   They agreed; and when they plugged it in, I got a dial tone--SOLD!   I stopped by Mike's table on the way back and mentioned it may or may not end up visiting him in the future.   

Long story short, I picked up two paystations for what I expected to pay for one.  Plus got to see a lot of amazing stuff, and made a couple stops on the way back for things related to one of my other hobbies.   

Thank you guys for your guidance.

[compubit]

Great! I hope you're happy with your purchases.

I never saw the 10 button Northern - I might have picked it up if I had seen it...

Jim

[Fushigi Ojisan]

Thank you

The ten-button NE was at the big table in the front lobby area (the couple from Georgia) on the right-hand side table coming in from outside.   The price knocked me out, I kinda wish I had picked up his AE and possibly the single-slot (sans keys) for the same price to see if they could be flipped "on spec".   The guy was not there when I first came in, but was on the way out; very glad I stopped by.   

Just took photos of the NE, will post them in that sub-forum hopefully in a bit

[FABphones]

Sounds like fun. Looking forward to seeing the photos of your purchases.

[compubit]

My table was across from theirs -I guess since I spent a lot of the time talking with them, I mostly didn't pay attention to most of the items on the table...

Jim

[MADhouseTelephone]

I was there. Sold all three Millenniums I brought!

[Fushigi Ojisan]

Sounds like fun. Looking forward to seeing the photos of your purchases.

I posted the NE-2236QC in the Northern Electric forum.  Its an interesting beast, not nearly as charming as my old AE, but still retro cool.   

The Western Electric is currently in Long Island awaiting restoration.  I'm trying to talk a buddy who visits up that way to make the trek out to pick it up for me.

My table was across from theirs -I guess since I spent a lot of the time talking with them, I mostly didn't pay attention to most of the items on the table...

Jim

I barely paid attention until I was on the way out!    He also had an AE that needed a lot of TLC and some kind of single-slot payphone, $100 each.   I was tempted to see if they could be restored "on spec" but decided not to push my luck.

Again, props to the guys who set up their own network in the show, without that dialtone, I may well have walked away from the deal.

[Jim Stettler]

What happened next was I did not heed the advice of my brother-in-law to stop shopping once I bought what I wanted.
quote]
A wise move on your part.
JMO,
Jim S.