Even if I could afford this, I wouldn't pay over 2K for a phone. Its a telephone! Yes, I love telephones, no doubt about it. But 2K?? They say the economy is tough, but 2K for a telephone. Wow....this is insane....Doug
Well I think we have to put it in perspective. Everyone has things they are willing to pay a lot for, and many hobbies are much more pricy than phones. You can drop 30k on an old car without blinking, and a sizable percentage of the population will say that's crazy, who'd buy an old car for 30k?!
You can spend thousands on a chair, if you so desire, or a Barbie doll, or a rifle. And again a host of people will think you are nutters and have slipped a cog.
And then there are the folks who don't collect anything and think we are all cracked. Ran into one of those recently at work, she thinks anyone who collects stuff is weird and needs to get a life. Though I will bet you that we could find some sort of collection in her house of something, she probably just does not see it that way.
I'll see if I can find some of the examples of phones that went for 3k or more. Name any artifact, and somewhere there is a nich of people who collect them and pay what seems to others like insane amounts.
Quote from: Brinybay on June 17, 2010, 04:44:06 PM
I'll see if I can find some of the examples of phones that went for 3k or more. Name any artifact, and somewhere there is a nich of people who collect them and pay what seems to others like insane amounts.
Clear 302's, clear AE 40's, Blue 302's, Strowger 11 digit candlesticks.
Some vanitys, some floor tandems to name a few that I know of of the top of my head.
Jim
Here's a high-priced phone that ended just this evening:
http://tinyurl.com/2d7w23p
$2,707
I'm glad I wasn't the only one watching this one.
Bushman
Heck, the old Superbirds and Daytona's can go for a quarter to half a million.
Quote from: McHeath on June 17, 2010, 12:40:24 PMWell I think we have to put it in perspective...
Yeah it's amazing Tom what certain cars are bringing these days. I did not know that those models could fetch that much but I'm not surprised. A couple of years ago when I looked at the prices for 1960 Chevrolet's I was shocked, I paid 400 clams for mine and it was pretty nice and all original. But that was a long time ago.
I've been following the cell phone collector prices a bit as well, it's fascinating to me that a phone that will never work again as the system has changed can bring a thousand dollars easy. But then as I said there are people who will drop big bucks on their passions.
About 10 years ago, I threw away a Motorola Brick phone in the box with all thew extras. I don't know why ???
I wasn't collecting phones, but even today I would most likely have sold it.
D/P
A few years ago I asked about phones at a yard sale. The guy went in and brought out an early big brick motorola. pretty much New in box. It was from Hawaii. he said he seldom used it because of cost per minute.
He said it was so expensive he didn't want to throw it away or donate it, but if I wanted it he would give it to me. He was glad to see it go to someone who appreciatted it.
The batteries still take a charge and I used to be able to try calling and get recorded messages saying I didn't have service. It also has the deluxe holster, and all the paperwork.
It is like the work cell phone I had in 1994. My wife called that phone when she went into labor with our oldest. I have shown it to my oldest daughters friends, It is a high tech cell phone that is the same vintage as they are. thay are amazed, then I power it up and the LED display lights up, they found that really neat.
Jim
I paid 2500 for my 60 Bel-Air in 06. I loved that car, and have tried to find one for around that price since I got t-boned. Not gonna happen.
Quote from: McHeath on June 18, 2010, 12:36:16 PM
Yeah it's amazing Tom what certain cars are bringing these days. I did not know that those models could fetch that much but I'm not surprised. A couple of years ago when I looked at the prices for 1960 Chevrolet's I was shocked, I paid 400 clams for mine and it was pretty nice and all original. But that was a long time ago.
Quote from: Doug Rose on June 17, 2010, 08:14:32 AM
Even if I could afford this, I wouldn't pay over 2K for a phone. Its a telephone! Yes, I love telephones, no doubt about it. But 2K?? They say the economy is tough, but 2K for a telephone. Wow....this is insane....Doug
I agree - it is insane, but think of this phone as an emerald - you'd pay that much for an emerald! No matter how much I like it, I couldn't/wouldn't pay that much for a phone. Heck, I'd be hard pressed to pay over $500 for one.
I guess value, as well as beauty is in the eye of the beholder!
Dave
This is very similar to what phone prices have seen over the years.
For WW-II, 16,766 P-51 Mustangs were built at a cost to the Army of about $51,000, most likely including avionics and weapons. So, about $40,000 per airplane.
After WW-II many hundreds were sold (given away) for $1 to the Continental American countries that signed the Inter-American Treaty of Reciprocal Assistance, ratified in Rio de Janero in 1947.
After the war, Switzerland also bought 130 P-51s for $4,000 each.
Many P-51s were sold as surplus after the war, often for as little as $1,500. Some were sold to former wartime fliers or other aficionados for personal use, while others were modified for air racing.
In the 1980s, a flying P-51 could be purchased for about $100,000.
Today, a P-51 can command a price of more than $1 million, even for only partially restored aircraft.
According to the FAA there are 204 privately owned P-51s in the U.S. and that number grows smaller each time one is crashed beyond repair (at least 2 within the past year or so that I know of).
As I heard one P-51 owner/pilot say at an air show last year while talking to another owner, " . . .and they say there's no money in aviation. Hell, they got all of mine!"
It's on a different scale but it mirrors what has happened to phones. Many were made at a moderate cost, many were thrown away over time, a few were found for a few bucks in various condition, demand for a smaller quantity of phones and parts increased prices, refurbished and rare phone garnered higher prices, and some people take a chance on winning the jackpot by overpricing what they think is their retirement plan.
Unlike phones, P-51 Mustangs do have an upper price and unless someone was lucky enough to have the exact plane flown by Chuck Yeager over Europe in WW-II, that price is still around a million dollars. Then there is the cost of owning, maintaining and operating these 450+ mph high performance relics.
Back to this original thread, supply and demand, and P.T Barnum's thoughts on life, apply to some phone listings.