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What Are Your Best Bargains Ever In Phones?

Started by HobieSport, May 06, 2009, 11:18:40 PM

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HobieSport

I just thought it might be fun for us to write about some of the best bargains we've ever found in phones (Heath's idea, actually) so that the rest of us can turn avocado green with envy.  Like Dan's white '73 Princess that he just picked up for 50 cents! 

We don't have a lot going in the local thrift shops and yard sales in our area, so my bargains are just the occasional $5. older 500 on Ebay, but of course then there's the standard $10-12. or so for shipping...

So...what are some of our greatest deals?

AET

Well, like quite a few things I have, my Mom works at a factory that's been in operation since 1949 and she keeps an eye out when they're tossing stuff and has often went dumpster diving for things for me, including a 2554 phone.  Also, she saw a beige 2500 go in, she went after it, but couldn't find it. 

My favorite so far has been my first phone, a 1978 ITT I payed 7bucks for. 
- Tom

bingster

I remember once I got a '57 500U for $35. ;D

Seriously, I think that's my only real bargain.  Everything else I have has been bought for either a price that I would consider fair, or just below that.
= DARRIN =



Dennis Markham

I found a Mediterranean Blue 500 in great shape at an Antique Fair for $35.  My biggest bargain is a Mahogany 500 I got off Craigslist for $12 plus shipping.  Lastly, my Mahogany 554 that came in a "lot" of wall phones from eBay.  I think there were six of them (only one Mahogany) that were in the neighborhood of $20 plus shipping.  I didn't know about Mahogany phones at the time and the brown phone hung in my basement with a couple dozen others for over a year before I learned what I had.

http://www.vintagerotaryphones.com/?p=51

Many of you have seen this posting but for those that haven't here it is again.  The brown 500 in this post is NOT the one I got off Craigslist.

HobieSport

I like that Mahogany Dennis, and that reminds me, I have some reading up to do on your phone site. :)

Quote from: bingster
I remember once I got a '57 500U for $35. ;D

Yep, and we've all been drooling over it today! :o

Dan

Dennis, your $35 Blue story is memorable to me (You gave him two 20's and your heart was pounding....). I like to visualize how I would have reacted in that situation.

I'd say the 50 cent princess was my cheapest deal ::)

My best oldie was a chrome banded AE40 that  needed a little lubrication to it's stuck dial for $30. Gorgeous phone! My pyramid kellogg 1930's for $35 was a good deal too.

I went to an antique show this past weekend and a guy had a AE90 pink wall phone but he wanted $40. I waited 2 hours, had my WIFE and all her cuteness try to get the price down to $25,but he wouldn't budge. If it is there next month (its a monthly show) I will try to offer $30.
"Imagine how weird telephones would look if our ears weren't so close to our mouths." - Steven Wright

benhutcherson

I've not picked up any rare phone for great prices, but I've managed to get several common phones for what I'd consider good prices.

My first telephone was an AE40, which was free.

I've had several other freebies, and gotten several for $5 or less. Probably the best of these was my first 302, which was $5 at a local antique shop. I also paid $5 for my Signal Corp 500.

Last weekend, I grabbed a Kellogg ringer box with a big 5-bar magneto for $25, also locally.

Finally, my 151AL was bought complete(save for the receiver) only in pieces for $40. Considering what these typically sell for, I figure that this was a decent bargain once it was put back together.

McHeath

Hmmm, lets see, I've really overpaid on some phones so we will ignore that.  (We won't talk about how much I've sunk into that 1968 WE 1500 in aqua)

My 354 came with the house, so it's sorta a free and sorta cost a mint, and I will be making payments on it for 20 more years.

A turquoise 500, birthday phone, with a G6 handset that cost about 14 dollars was a pretty good deal.

My 1951 500 was about 20 with shipping.

My Snoopy Design Line rotary was $7.50.



rp2813

I've never paid more than $5 or $6 for any of my phones: 202's, 302's, 500's, 2500's.  Some of them I got for free.  But out of the ones I paid for, probably the best buy was the 10/50, which was like $4.99 at a thrift store back in 1981 or so.

Ralph
Ralph

Stephen Furley

That would have to be the orange Contempra (dial type) that I think I paid 9.99 (pounds) for in good condition.

HobieSport

Quote from: rp2813
I've never paid more than $5 or $6 for any of my phones: 202's, 302's, 500's, 2500's.  Some of them I got for free.  But out of the ones I paid for, probably the best buy was the 10/50, which was like $4.99 at a thrift store back in 1981 or so.

Ralph

Wow Ralph that's pretty amazing.  Were they mostly from yard sales and/or thrift stores?

mienaichizu

well for me my bargain phones are the LM Ericsson type 51 and an AE 186 which I got both for free. The craziest is the red pay phone which I recently acquired for $140 ;D

BDM

I've been collecting for so long, I can't remember all the deals I may have made out on. Just a few that come to mind right now. $10 for a mint condition 151AL W.E. "stick", 25 for a real nice 51AL. $15 for 5 or 6 metal 302s in nice shape. $10 on a real nice W.E. B1. Keep in mind, most of these deals occured 13+ years ago.
--Brian--

St Clair Shores, MI

rp2813

Yeah Matt, I was doing most of my collecting in the 70's and early 80's.  Thrift stores and garage sales, maybe a flea market visit, or just a friend who wanted to unload a phone were the ways I got all of mine.  Back then I would pass over 500's--except for the 10/50 which I knew was worth grabbing.  This forum has got me thinking about all the matching dates 500's I probably could have snagged for under $5 but I was prejudiced against the 500's because at the time, they were in fact the phones everybody had in their homes and had no collectible value for me.  302's were my main focus.  My collection isn't big, just a few of each and only one 202, but they all work and I hook 'em up when there's a need for a particular look in a room.  It's only been about a year since I've gotten into the 500 series.  I like their functionality and that's the only type of vintage phone I've got connected around the house currently.  Four of them to be exact.  Three black ones and one beige.  The other types are all wrapped in a box waiting for their turn again.

Ralph
Ralph

Dennis Markham

I wish the bug had bitten me earlier in life.  Who knows how many phones I'd have piled up next to the pile I have now!  A few years ago I was visiting in the Bardstown, Kentucky area and spent a day looking for phones.  I figured they would be all over the place.  I only drug one home and it was a black 500 in pretty rough shape but I could see some potential.  It was a big indoor flea market but people had stuff set up outside too.  A guy was seated next to his pick-up truck, tail gate down with a bunch of stuff.  I saw the black phone and after being skunked every place I stopped I was going to buy anything that even looked like a phone.  He had a price sticker of $1 on the phone.  I handed him the buck and picked up the phone.  As I started to walk away he asked, "...don't you want your change?"  Being the cheapskate that I am I held out my hand.  He put two quarters in it and said everything was half off.  Heck the dial was worth 50c!  That was the only phone I found on that trip.  Being an out-of-towner I just didn't know where to look.