Interesting Western Electric Picturephone MOD II on ebay for ~13k
https://www.ebay.com/itm/115431670290
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But does it work?
Didn't see anything in the listing that said it was working.
Magic Mo's went for 22K......Doug
Quote from: Doug Rose on June 23, 2022, 10:23:19 PMMagic Mo's went for 22K......Doug
That was a complete Model I with a full set of original operating and maintenance manuals and its original shipping crates. It was not tested for condition due to the age of its components.
http://www.classicrotaryphones.com/forum/index.php?topic=8649.0
Magic Mo's auction listing for the Mod 1 Picturephone model she sold:
Looks like it sold for 9999.00 + shipping.
I hope the new owner posts a thread on here
Quote from: 5415551212 on June 29, 2022, 08:07:00 PMLooks like it sold for 9999.00 + shipping.
I was watching that listing and about a week ago received an offer from the seller for $9,999.00.
I suspect everyone watching that listing got the same offer and one of them acted on that "deal."
Does anyone have a working one setup? Did it use a normal POTS line? I'd love to see one working in person.
I thought the JKL Museum bought Magic MOs dads ...Doug
Yes, JKL bought it and had it hooked up at one time, not sure if that was before or after the fire.
JKL has a special display of WE green telephone sets, so perhaps they bought this green picturephone as well. I never saw any indication that this phone had sold, the last I saw the auction was ended and the "item is no longer available."
Quote from: Jon Kolger on July 01, 2022, 11:22:17 AMJKL has a special display of WE green telephone sets, so perhaps they bought this green picturephone as well. I never saw any indication that this phone had sold, the last I saw the auction was ended and the "item is no longer available."
Good catch here it is for sale here:
https://www.oldphoneshop.com/products/western-electric-picture-phone-mod-ii-bell-systems.html
There was a neat old article on the picture phone from the JKL that came from beatriceco.com
However that page has been deleted.
I found it here:
https://web.archive.org/web/20210302160625/http://www.beatriceco.com/bti/porticus/bell/telephones-picturephone.html (https://web.archive.org/web/20210302160625/http://www.beatriceco.com/bti/porticus/bell/telephones-picturephone.html)
To answer my own questions they said:
"The PicturePhone was connected to the Central Office via 3 standard wire pairs (for comparison, a regular telephone line uses a single wire pair). One pair carried the 1 MHz PicturePhone video signal in one direction, the other carried video the in the opposite direction. These had to be specially equalized to carry the signal but were still otherwise just ordinary telephone wire. The third pair carried the normal 2-way voice call plus carried the TouchTone dialing to set up the call.
A PicturePhone Central Office had a second switch (an electromechanical "crossbar" switch in those days!) operating in parallel to the regular switch for those making PicturePhone calls. That takes care of local calls."
Quote from: 5415551212 on July 01, 2022, 12:25:49 PM. . . here it is for sale here:
https://www.oldphoneshop.com/products/western-electric-picture-phone-mod-ii-bell-systems.html
Mark was the eBay seller, he is now offering it on his web site (no fees).
Here is the original topic on Mo's picture phone from when she found it in Dad's attic:
http://www.classicrotaryphones.com/forum/index.php?topic=7975.msg87229#msg87229