Question about a phone value?

[wds]

But to ride both sides of the fence, I recently picked up this dial for $50.  I have a feeling that I got the deal of the month on this one, but didn't want to draw attention to it by asking questions on the forum.  Hopefully my gut instinct on this one will pay off.

[dsk]

Similar has not been made her since early 1920ies.

dsk

[wds]

Best I can tell, from doing my homework, this dial went into production around 1915, years before the Western Electric #1 prototype, and #2 dials.  This dial was also manufactured by WE for GPO as dial #5.  Does any one have the actual years that these dials went into production?

[Dan/Panther]

But to ride both sides of the fence, I recently picked up this dial for $50.  I have a feeling that I got the deal of the month on this one, but didn't want to draw attention to it by asking questions on the forum.  Hopefully my gut instinct on this one will pay off.

WDS;
By your own words you are agreeing with me. Of course I want high dollar for my phone or part, but that's why they have a reserve price system or opening bid.
Either protects what you feel is the value, if you didn't do your homework you will get burned.
That is the jest of collecting.
then you go on to Say you didn't want to draw attention to something you wanted. You should not be able to have it both ways JMHO.
I've sold phones for less then I paid for them after cleaning them up, and I've paid way too much for a phone,  example a Peking Red 302 for $990.00 about 2 years ago.
A very nice imperial completely restored with a very nice handmade OAK subset, I got $58.00. No reserve. Who's fault are those
But I'm not going to come on here and whine about my lack of experience. I should have done more homework.
Of course I condone asking questions, but the resources are out there to find your own value window. Don't be too lazy with a hobby study it and learn what to buy and what to stay away from.
By posting a rare or desired set on the forum, all you will do is get outbid by someone that most likely already has one., and is looking to flip it. My collection is about 10% specualtion in the form of dirty beat up 302's that I want to clean up and maybe double my investment, so i can up my bid on other phones I want. I'm not taking advantage of anyone, I'm offering a bargain price for a nice phone, and I'm slowl7y building my collection.
Some collectors have 1000's of phones that will most likely never be sold or displayed, and most will probably end up in land fills someplace, why not let someone else enjoy adding some to there collection ?
Collecting is one thing, speculation and hoarding i9s another ball game completely.
I won't ssay anymore, I've probably said way too much now.

D/P

[wds]

Guess I'm not sure if I'm agreeing or not, I'm saying that if someone has a question about a phone, whether it's on EBay or not, they should be able to ask without anyone getting upset.  If the price of something goes up because of a question, that might be bad for someone else who is trying to get it cheap, but good for the seller.  I've seen many forum members post a plug here about their item that they have for sale on Ebay - I assume to run up the price.  If that's ok, then an occasional question should be ok.  After all, this is a Phone Forum - and not an EBay forum?

[AE_Collector]

Guess I'm not sure if I'm agreeing or not, I'm saying that if someone has a question about a phone, whether it's on EBay or not, they should be able to ask without anyone getting upset.  After all, this is a Phone Forum - and not an EBay forum?

I think I had it right with my previous comment in this thread:

Yeah I don't know what the best answer is or if there is a "Best Answer".
Terry

Obviously if you were hoping to snag something on ebaY for as low of a price as possible you wouldn't come on here asking questions about it. Beyond that I think if you want to ask questions about it OR if you choose to point out its collectible features on here, so be it. More liklihood that way that someone here gets it at least.

Speaking of that though, I see that a new board called "Forum Members Only" has just been started that can't be viewed by non forum members. How about a compromise? If we want to talk about an item currently listed on ebaY we post it in the Forum Members Only area. That way we either onsiderably reduce the number of people who see it OR we add considerable more "forum members".

I don't know if anyone other than Bill the moderator can post there though. Maybe yet another board called "Forum Members Only - Current Auctions" that anyone can post in. Once the auction is over the posts can either stay there OR they could be moved over to the "Auction talk" board unless the discussion warrants it landing in another more specific board.

We could try it to see if it works at all. If all the non members that are on-line at any given moment are really forum memebers who haven't bothered to log in, nothing will be gained. I don't think that is the case. I think there are lots of people who puruse these pages without joining. I keep my account marked to always keep me logged in and it works great, so I am not really sure why members would bother to have to log in each time they check in here.

What does everyone think of this idea? Currently some auction items get posted her while they are active and some don't. This way any auctions that are posted here for what ever reason will only be seen by forum members. It will require a little work by moderators to move threads if they get posted in the wrong area while an auction is active.

Terry

[wds]

I think that's great.  I always wondered if there wasn't some way to filter out the non-members from seeing posts by members.  That would certainly solve the problem.

Another way to handle it would be to not let Non-members see any posts newer than 7 days.  That would take care of any Ebay bidding problems. 

[AE_Collector]

That would certainly solve the problem.

Well not entirely as other forum members will still the posts about current auctions but it will limit the number of people who see the posts. At least the people who see the discussion will be actual forum members.

Another way to handle it would be to not let Non-members see any posts newer than 7 days.  That would take care of any Ebay bidding problems.  

Yes and No. Some auctions run 10 days and others in ebaY Stores run for 30 days and automatically renew. The biggest problem with this limitation is that members who don't log in would be at the same dis-advantage and it would likely cover all discussions on all boards.

The CRPF works fine the way it is and it doesn't create much work for the moderators the way everything is done. It is a friendly place where no one gets chewed out for starting a new post with their question rather than doing a little searching first. However, I think that making searching a little bit easier by using better topics, combined with moderators moving posts, merging posts and adjusting subject lines a little more would make the CRPF a better resource overall.

Terry

[Phonesrfun]

Hi.  The current forum members only area was created specifically for an announcement that we wanted to go to just forum members, and as such it is read-only.

It was the first time this board opened up a members only area, and it seems to be doing exactly what it was supposed to do.

Perhaps Dennis can chime in here, but the reason we made it read only is because we didn't want topics that should be open to the public to morph into this area and get lost from view to the public.  I say "we", not because I have any decision making capacity, but because Dennis did ask my opinion on this before he opened up the members only board.

Judging from the overwhelming number of non-member "lurkers" on line at any one time, it appears that many, many people are getting answers from the topics we post without having to join and ask a question specifically.  Sometimes there is a 10 to 1 ratio of visitors to members logged into the forum at any one time.

Personally, I have noticed that in the last year, we have had many, many folks register, ask one or two questions, get their answer and go on their merry way.  There is probably such a vast database of old posts that make searching difficult.  I am even having trouble finding things with the search function, because sometimes there is so much to wade through.  Therefore, they join and ask.

Having some discussions on a members only page would undoubtedly encourage people to register and many of them would likely be here today and gone tomorrow.

Some forums I have seen would have some sections of information available to everyone, but have the participation limited to members only.  In that scenario, some things like the diagrams and the technical and other "how-to" information could be available to everyone, and then have the other discussions be for members.

Another thought would be to have just the areas like the auction talk or flea-market/yard sale sections be members only.

However, it probably stands to reason that if we have a members only discussion area, that would put even more work on the shoulders of Dennis for creating new more registrations and policing and/or moving posts between topics.  That is why I think Dennis would want to consider this very thoughtfully.

My two cents

[AE_Collector]

There is probably such a vast database of old posts that make searching difficult.  I am even having trouble finding things with the search function, because sometimes there is so much to wade through.

Anytime I go looking for an old post it is frequently next to impossible to find. I think it is becasue the title of the thread frequently has little to do with what was discussed! Take this thread for example!

Terry

[Phonesrfun]

There is probably such a vast database of old posts that make searching difficult.  I am even having trouble finding things with the search function, because sometimes there is so much to wade through.

Anytime I go looking for an old post it is frequently next to impossible to find. I think it is becasue the title of the thread frequently has little to do with what was discussed! Take this thread for example!

Terry

Good point!

[HarrySmith]

If it ain't broke don't fix it!
This forum is the best phone related thing going, it works just fine the way it is. Yes, as more & more posts get added searching will be tougher, that is why we have special topics and sections for poular stuff. The only way I have found things easily is by putting in a few exact words, if I remeber them, if not it takes time wading through a lot of search results.

[wds]

Well, I'm going to break the rules already.  Here's a great find for someone with deep pockets.  I hope this post doesn't cause the price to go up any higher than it already is.  I'm going to try and snipe it for under $5k.

http://tinyurl.com/electricphone

One of a kind all electric phone. 

[AE_Collector]

Great pictures and description...they just might get their price!

Terry

[Phonesrfun]

Great pictures and description...they just might get their price!

Terry

Stranger things have happened on e-baY!