Booth Early Dial Instruction Signage - Real?

[RotarDad]

Just saw this on Ebay:

http://m.ebay.com/itm/122415243059

Authentic?  Starting bid of $120 has been placed.  I would guess very few of these survived...

[Stan S]

Paul
It's authentic. They were printed on tin.

Below is a scan of page 77 in Ron Knappen's Payphone book. The picture is dated July 2, 1929.
I have two versions in my collection. This is only the second one I've seen listed in the 18 years I've been on Ebay.
They are rare
Stan S.

[RotarDad]

Stan - Nice signs you have there - they look to be in excellent condition.   I really like the way you have them displayed also.  This Ebay example certainly is not as nice.  Any guess on what it might bring?

[Stan S]

Paul
I haven't a clue what it's going to sell for.
I did everything in my power to FORGET what the ones I own cost.
Made no difference at the time. I HAD TO HAVE THEM!

I keep going back and looking at the auction.
Thought I was cured of this.
HELP!

Stan S.

[Sargeguy]

My payphone is from Boston, although a little later than 1929.  I will definitely be watching this one.

[HarrySmith]

Paul
I haven't a clue what it's going to sell for.
I did everything in my power to FORGET what the ones I own cost.
Made no difference at the time. I HAD TO HAVE THEM!

I keep going back and looking at the auction.
Thought I was cured of this.
HELP!

Stan S.

There is no cure for Phoneitis!!

[War Horse]

Holy crap Stan those are nice!  I've never seen one of those before and here you've got two pristine examples.  Wow!

[poplar1]

Sold for $169.16

[HarrySmith]

Sold for $169.16

Stan??

[Payphone installer]

There is also a porcelain version that is very rare.

[cihensley@aol.com]

A picture of the sign on eBay, with most of the defects removed using Photoshop. The below picture was uploaded at 72 ppi. If you want a higher resolution image (300 ppi) send me a DIRECT (not through CRPF) email: cihensley@aol.com  The JPEG image I will send you is 5MB. If you prefer a TIFF image (46MB), we will work something out because it is out of MB range of most email systems. The original sign is 13 and 13/16 by 7 and 3/8 inches.

Chuck

[RotarDad]

Thanks, Chuck for your work to post this!  Really great job.  Question: how did that extra party line letter work?  Did that correspond to a particular ring (i.e. 2 short) on a single shared line?  I have a couple number cards with that extra letter, and I was wondering what they meant.

[cihensley@aol.com]

RotarDad: Yes. The July 2010 TCI newsletter explains the role of alphabetic ringing codes.

Chuck

[AL_as_needed]

I did not realize 411 was the information number for so long, I still use this from time to time despite having a "smart" phone.

[andre_janew]

Have you ever noticed that most (but not all) smart phones are used by people who aren't very smart?  Also, using such a phone doesn't seem to make them any smarter!