Liberty Antique Festival September 24 and 25: stop by booth X5

[allnumbedup]

My daughter and I are fulfilling a long time goal and have set up for the very first time at the Liberty Antique Festival --a venue we visit twice a year in Staley NC.  We have filled our booth with much stuff, but I have been spending weeks restoring phones. I think we have 30 restored phones and about ten working--but unrestored ones, plus parts.  We have a few collector grade phones, but most are intended for regular, normal people  .   In early shopping I picked up a black WE 564 for $10 and plan to visit another  vendor first thing in the morning because he has a Turquoise 183 AE Space Saver (not faded blue)--I do not really need another phone to restore but I think $30 is a good buy for this color.

I will report back on how my success as a barometer for you all of the market and my attempts at setting prices.

[Doug Rose]

Best of luck with your show.

You have a few phones that should be on eBay and not at an antique show.

Remember with setting prices, you can always go down in price when bartering, which is expected....Doug

[Doug Rose]

I particularly like the Easaphone. I don't think I have ever seen one before. Any history on this beauty!...Doug

[Scott]

Very nice group of phones. Best of luck at the show. Let us know how you did.

Regards,
Scott K.

[allnumbedup]

'the easophone has been discussed here before and i believe it is truly "rare" :

http://www.classicrotaryphones.com/forum/index.php?topic=11221.msg119832#msg119832.

I don't expect to sell it here tomorrow but there is no telling--We spent the first day today  (friday) and await results tomorrow.  We sold the 1966  pink princess and a OST WE receiver.  We also sold a cracked and yellowed french style korean 1980's phone which got too much attention among the unrestored phones-- not as many shoppers as comments of " i had a phone exactly like that except black"  still really fun--the most popular phone was the orange SC 500.

i will keep you posted

< edit 09-24-21 : white space below text removed >

[Doug Rose]

'the easophone has been discussed here before and i believe it is truly "rare" :

For those of us who cannot be there, what is the asking price? Why are you selling it?.....thanks...Doug

[Doug Rose]

How did your Antique Show go? Did you sell your Easophone?......Doug

[allnumbedup]

Thanks for your interest in phones and show results from last weekend:  I sold three restored phones.  The pink 1966 WE princess with original transformer  ($210), The orange 1979 SC 500 ($170), and the black Palco 500 ($50).  The other vendors I spoke to felt that sales were pretty flat across the board. My daughter and I had other stuff to sell and the only thing we were cleaned out of was vintage Tupperware. People really like  talking about the long cords wall phones used to have, the youtube video of teenagers who don't know how to dial a phone, or how they do not even have a landline.  Many people think they had an orange 554 growing up. People seemed to enjoy  the RS Phone Tester  attached to a power cell that I used  to ring one of my phones every few minutes  but I think it was driving the vendor next to me batty.  Several wanted to buy the grungy 302 I had-- but wanted it to work.  The military Autovon phone and the AE 3 slot payphone got some attention too.  I think I fixed up too many push buttons which I thought people might go for over rotary phones.  Several people wanted a cosmetically nice looking phone and didn't care if it worked. The phones I sold were all three to non- collectors who seemed to buy them on a whim. My favorite at the show was the ivory WE500 'birthday' phone which got no attention but is a sweet phone.

For your interest, I am posting the sales prices I had on these phones displayed in our  booth with the ones I think are most collectible in bold.  I know I did not price them to fly off the shelves.  As mentioned by Doug  above, I would probably be better off posting some of these on ebay, but if a forum member wants more information or pictures I would be happy to provide them if you PM me.  (I know them inside and out.) The easophone is a really great phone and has what I think is an original mouthpiece and cord. I bypassed its condenser which takes up the whole back of the phone and added a modular jack so that the phone works fully.  I did so reversibly hiding the work and without soldering  onto terminals or altering the phone.  It does not work for  the phone nook in my house that I bought it for. The card reader I may still fix up some, it has two sets of cards and came in a big lot of phones I purchased from Goodwill. The payphone I have had for years and upgraded to a chrome one that is a bit older that I bought on CL for less than I have in the black one.

BLACK Unrestored 1949 WE 302 (1945 5H dial, working components)                       -25
RED 1980's Cortelco (ITT)2500 (custom 80's  face plate)                                             -70
NICKEL 1920 SC/Leich fluted Candlestick (newer network)                                       -375
YELLOW 1979 WE 2554 (4228 net 35Y3A dial, no PG)                                                -90
GRAY 1979 WE 2554 (4010 net 35AF3A dial, paint, termstrip, no PG)              -145
BROWN 1977 ITT 500 (original, UTS custom card)                                                        -70
PINK 1972 WE Rotary Trimline AD1, 220 (repair)                                              -115                                   
LT BEIGE 1985 ITT 2500 Motel Phone (neon ringer)                                                     -50                 
YELLOW 1970 WE 554 (G6 handset, long modular cord)                                            -125
BEIGE 1980's Radio Shack 500 (redial, tone button)                                                    -20 
GUMBY Phone 1985 Prema Toy Company (original cord)                                               -65           
HARVEST GOLD 1984 ITT2554 (long cord)                                                                     -95
WHITE 1965-73 WE 565K (buzzer, lights, repair)                                                        -175                 
IVORY 3/29/1956 WE 500 soft plastic birthday phone (repair, five line cord)    -135                                   
MOSS GREEN 1970 WE small button Trimline AD1 (repair, light, long cord)                    -85                   
MOSS GREEN 1972 WE small button Trimline (repair, light, long cord)                           -85                   
LT BEIGE 1965-1984 WE 702BM Princess, custom card non-lighted                              -65
BLACK  1954-57 WE 500 (straight cord)                                                                      -105
HTF 1967 WE 1554 25W3 dial, ringer, network base                                          -45       
HTF 12/55 very early WE 554 base ( un-notched)                                               -30
HTF 3/55 7E-3 Dial                                                                                               -55
F3 WE  handset part                                                                                                         5     
Hookswitch 165X (1930-40 Kellogg type)                                                                      -15
Candlestick extension arm                                                                                             -45
WHITE 1970 WE 2702B Princess, light (original C stock refurb, repair)                         -85
BLACK 1956 WE 554 Wide hook, soft plastic, original card, date stamped        -115      
BLACK Unrestored 1958 WE 554 Wide hook, soft plastic, works                                   -45      
MOSS GREEN Unrestored 1955-68  WE 554, ABS works                                                -40
Dark BEIGE 1977 Trimline AD3/220. Complete needs  wiring, original card.         -45       
BLACK Unrestored 1963 WE 502, complete, 6 wired for key system, works        -45      
MILTARY AUTOVON  TA-838A, WW3 phone/radio, wired for modular jack           -125
RED 1986 ITT/AllenTel 554 custom dial blank, packaging                                              -110      
HTF BEIGE Unrestored 1964 WE 660  A-1, two card packs, 18V AC                   -375      
RED "Bat Phone" custom 1971 WE 500, neon light                                                      -115
BLACK Unrestored 1953-66 WE Space Saver, works                                                      -40      
GOLD Bell Chime WE external ringer                                                                              -10      
BEIGE  Bell Chime WE external ringer                                                                            -10
BEIGE  Bell Chime WE external ringer                                                                            -20      
GRAY L1A WE external ringer                                                                                         -20      
RARE BLACK 1906 Easophone #198 in series, original cord.                              -795
BLACK Unrestored 1959 AE90 black switch hook, first wall mount base              -50      
BEIGE Unrestored 1973 ATT 554                                                                                    -20      
WHITE Unrestored 1970's ATT 554                                                                                -20
BLACK Unrestored 1959-1970 ITT 500, solid core Bakelite                                             35      
BLACK Unrestored 1961 ITT 510, all original                                                       -45      
BLACK 1960'S Automatic Electric LP6-82-5 Payphone with keys.                                 -355
BROWN 1977 WE Sculptura (donut phone)                                                                   -75
WHITE 1973 SC 500 (custom card, replaced ringer, repair)                                           -70
HTF AQUA 1967 WE 1500 (replaced caps, cord, repair)                                     -235
AQUA 1973 WE 2500 (repair)                                                                                        -80      
BEIGE Unrestored 1980 GE handset, works                                                           5       
BROWN 1985 WE 2554                                                                                                  -80                                     
Mini magneto 1920-40's? unknown maker generates 120 V AC.                                    -35