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Auction (24 Cancelled: Listing Terminated) - Telephone Collection

Started by bingster, February 22, 2009, 04:48:45 PM

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benhutcherson

Quote from: Dennis Markham on February 22, 2009, 08:52:34 PM
That's right Perry, and there was probably a story with each piece.  But that bit of history died with the collector.  If one has the desire to catalog one's collection it helps---if there is someone to pass it down to that has an interest.

Dennis,

You've given me a thought.

I've seen studies that indicate most collectors have above-average memories, or at least certain types of memory. Since I think I definitely have the collecting "gene", if such a thing exists, I think that I bear this out.

I can look at any telephone in my collection(or any other collection, for that matter) and recall where I bought it, and how much I paid for it. In most cases, I have a very distinct memory of where it was in the store I bought it-down to the location on the shelf.

Perhaps it would be valuable to take the time to record each of those memories. I don't think that it would be of any value to anyone other than myself, however it could potentially remind me somewhere along the way.

McHeath

I'll have to think a bit about what this might be worth.

Interesting comments on dying.  I was talking to the 92 year old fellow across the street yesterday and he was talking about a recent plane crash and his take one what went wrong.  He was a career navy guy, and spent the last decade working on aircraft, into the 60's, and it suddenly hit me that all the knowledge he has about aircraft and turboprops and piston engines is currently going to waste and will be lost when he dies.  It all got very sad, this seems to be one of the greatest tragedies of being human, all that we are and know is lost when we go, just like the history of this phone collection has been lost because the keeper of that history is gone. 

Morose.



AET

Yup, it's very sad to see this happen to ones collection.  We collect just about everything, and almost everything I have has some story, I don't remember most of the prices anymore, but on the more special and extravagent items I do.  Even though on most my dad flipped the bill, I've been the one to retain the knowledge, the history, yada, yada, yada.  Even as a youngster, I think about it.  In near death experiences, such as my car accidents, I just thought of all the things I value, would suddenly lose them stories, and everything.  It's a very humbling moment to think that these things that are such a part of your life can mean so little just like that.
- Tom

Dennis Markham

Ben, I think it is common for collectors of anything to recall how and when and how much when talking about a piece that they've added.  It's like the hunter (I've known a few serious hunters) that talk about the big buck they killed.  The time of day, the weather conditions, where it stood and how it moved before they put a bullet through its heart to end its life.  And then how difficult it was to drag it to the truck.

So there's that aspect of the history of acquiring the piece (in this case phones) and then a little piece of the history of the phone itself.  It is not often that we are privy to the details of the phone as it existed prior to acquiring it.  I do have a few in which some history was passed on by the seller.  For example there is a guy in Pennsylvania that I "met" via eBay.  When he finds something he thinks I'm may be interested in buying he'll e-mail me.  I purchased two phones from him that came from the same hardware store in Ohio.  One was an AE40 and the other a Galion phone.  The hardware store had been in business for some 80 years before closing.  He tells me that store was IN Galion, Ohio.  What (in my mind) is better than a Galion phone from Galion, Ohio?  On another black wall phone from Indiana the seller says it hung behind the counter at a local family-owned movie theater.  And yet another black 554 from the 50's hung in the music room at a school for its entire life.  There are others.  Sometimes I'll ask the eBay seller.  Once in a while they'll actually know a bit of the phone's history.  Other times they just say it came from an Estate sale.

Those examples to me make the collection more interesting.  Although I haven't written down that information I can point to the piece and tell which is which.  I think in case someone may be interested in the future, that is what I mean about cataloging the collection---not only for insurance purposes but for historical purposes.

Bill Cahill

Hmmmm. My guess is 475.00.
Lots of parts there.
Looks interesting to me.
Bill Cahill

"My friends used to keep saying I had batts in my belfry. No. I'm just hearing bells....."

Dan

$238.89, which will be a steal for someone....
"Imagine how weird telephones would look if our ears weren't so close to our mouths." - Steven Wright

mienaichizu

Holy! lots of good phones in there at a cheap price, very interesting! place me in $750

mienaichizu

Quote from: Perry on February 22, 2009, 08:15:54 PM
I bet those would bring lots more money if they were auctioned individually. I think they are going to cost way more than $25 to ship, too. Can anyone ID that aqua phone? It has a sort of Automatic Electric look to it.

Is anyone else depressed at the thought of their phones being liquidated in this way?

Yup perry the aqua phone is an AE, and look, there are 2 AE jukebox wall phone in there, one with chrome trimming

mienaichizu


McHeath

There seems to be a lot of interest in this collection online, 19 bids so far.

I'm guessing 1500 clams.  More or less.

benhutcherson

Looks like the seller received a lucrative off-ebay offer, as they canceled all of the bids and ended the listing early.

That's a shame-they probably would have gotten more if they'd just let it run its course.

bingster

Unbelievable.  So much for this week's contest, eh?
= DARRIN =



mienaichizu


McHeath

It was me guys, I bought the whole enchilada in an off e-bay aside.  Paid $12.47 for the lot, plus he threw in free shipping and even gave me a free McDonalds gift card for a Big Mac on my next visit, 2 free ticket to Yanni Live At the Acropolis, a free Belkin router, 3 free ducks, a wire stripper, 2 lava lamps, a pencil set, an original battle flag from the 3rd Arkansas CSA Vol. Infantry regiment, a 1 gig flash drive, and his car.

So clearly the economy has played havoc with e-bay and this is a buyers market.


;)


bingster

If they had left the high bidder up, I guess we could have used that.  But the removed all the bids, leaving it at $0.  I suppose we'll just wait until Saturday or Sunday for the next one.

McHeath, my mother might be interested in taking the Yanni tickets. :P
= DARRIN =