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I wonder what you see? "150-g pay station for sale/trade"

Started by Stan S, May 18, 2017, 12:39:40 AM

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Stan S

Hey folks.
A short time ago on one of the club lists a 2-piece payphone was offered for sale.
The title of the posting was:

"150-g pay station for sale/trade"

Below is a picture of the bottom of the payphone being offered that was emailed to me.
I gave the seller my opinion of the payphone.
I'm not going to post my opinion here. It would serve no purpose.

I'm curious what the opinions of the collectors on this forum are after looking at this picture.
This isn't a contest so there's no prize.

I'm having an ongoing debate with a well known payphone collector regarding the future of this hobby.
That's the reason for this posting.

Your participation will be appreciated.
Look at the picture carefully and compare what you see to the title of the sellers posting.

Technical comments only- please.
Please don't post and say "I know nothing about payphones".
That serves no purpose.
Thanks
Stan


Russ62

Hi,   I see a cast iron back, that judging by the receiver cord entrance area is GRAY. The wood terminal strip has 8 terminals, more typical of a 50G sidetone type pay station, and it appears to have been recently soldered to an old wiring harness. The 2 coil prepay relay seems to possibly have shiny new screws, and I can't quite tell from the picture if it has the grey covering on the coils like W.E. or the exposed, fine cloth covered wire of A.E relays. The switch hook looks like it might have a splice with a screw or rivet head near the edge of the backboard.                               Russell

RotarDad

I see lots of new solder joints, cleaned screws and chewed up screw slots (switch hook contact screws and pile-up) which indicate this Payphone has been apart several times and worked on very recently.  The hopper looks good with the screw, not spot-welded, attachments points, but that relay doesn't look right.  Two screws on top and a round magnet indicate a later relay, perhaps '50s?  Also the coils look wrong for WE - too thin and not wrapped?  The backboard must have recent paint also - it looks too clean and probably too shiny to be original.
Paul

Stan S

I wonder if anyone else has further observations. If not, I'll give you mine. Let's give it another day.
Hey Jim, Mr. Payphone Installer, how about you?
Stan S.

Payphone installer

One of the things I see right away is the relay is way later  then the relay found in a 50G with a bent magnet. we are talking a 100.00 dollar versus a 350.00 relay.
Next is the contact strip that meets up with the upper housing contact spur. It appears to have been made from a handset version like in the picture below.

Payphone installer

This can be done but you must use the correct pieces. Note in this picture of a 50G you can see the two small contact terminals sticking up on top of the pile up. This is the correct method of wiring up this phone.

Payphone installer

As it goes a picture is worth a thousand words here is a good pic of a 150G. These pictures define what you are truly seeing in the first picture. It is important to research before buying one of these phones. No matter how often I mess with these sets I always have to do a stare and compare, there are just so many things that define correct. But most of all the period the phone was released or should I say the date.

Stan S

Hey folks.
Thanks to Russ, Paul and Jim for taking the time (and caring enough) to comment on my question.

Seems vintage payphones put up for sale lately have been coming from an ALTERNATE REALITY.
There's no shortage of official information when it comes to payphones.
What's correct is documented. Its not a matter of opinion!

The particular payphone in question was offered at $1200. The seller posted that the payphone has a new home.
Really makes no difference if it does or it doesn't. It's 100% wrong no matter who owns it.
Maybe someone who is willing to spend $1200 without doing his homework deserves what he gets.
What's really unfortunate is there's one more incorrect payphone floating around bastardizing history.

Stan S.

RotarDad

Stan - This post has been helpful.  Thanks to Jim also for posting a correct phone for comparison.  I am always unhappy to see shiny new paint on an old payphone like this.  I want to see a label, or remnant of one, and some evidence of of age-related wear & tear.  Imho, these oldies should not be repainted in most cases.  The beauty is that often, the imposters are marketed at least partially on shine, which helps.
Paul