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Estate Sale

Started by wds, September 26, 2017, 07:28:06 PM

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wds

I had the opportunity to view a phone collection from a collector who has passed and lived not far from me.  I didn't think there were any other collectors in my town, but I guess you never know.  I don't think he belonged to any of the collector clubs.  He was a retired Bell Telephone employee, and the family said he didn't start collecting until after he retired.  I'm hoping to work out a deal buy the entire collection, but I think I'm competing with a couple collectors from the west coast.  Hope not - stay out of my town!  Here's a few pictures.  Mostly ordinary phones, but I saw a few I didn't have.  The last picture is of a telephone pole he had in his garage.
Dave

wds

More pics
Dave

wds

And more pics
Dave

Jim Stettler

I hope you can get the entire collection.
JMO,
Jim S.
You live, You learn,
You die, you forget it all.

Pourme

Man....That's a lot of stuff!

And a lantern...see that, John?

Good luck!

Benny
Benny

Panasonic 308/616 Magicjack service

LarryInMichigan

That is sure quite a large and varied collection.  Those WE fans are probably worth a bit.  I believe that would be pre-1926.

Good Luck!


Larry

.....


wds

Yes, nice collection, but I need to convert it from a find to a purchase!  Any quesses about how much this is worth?
Dave

Pourme

How does one go about placing a value on a collection like that? First you would need a accurate inventory.
Benny

Panasonic 308/616 Magicjack service

AL_as_needed

I saw a lantern in there! A Dietz 8-day maybe?

A very impressive collection. Love those early metal butt-sets. I think my wish list got a bit longer.  ::) I hope a deal can be reached as there could be a lot of local pieces in there that would be best left there in town where they served so long.
TWinbrook7

WEBellSystemChristian

Oh boy, John, you started a lantern pandemic... :o

Wow, quite a collection! I'm eyeing up some of the rare 500s in the second to last picture...

I sure hope you get the collection! ;)
Christian Petterson

"Whether you think you can or think you can't, you're right" -Henry Ford

Ktownphoneco

Really nice find Dave.     It'd take you 4 or 5 days to do a complete inventory of the collection.     You may have already had this conversation with the man's relatives, but my initial approach would be to ask them if they have an idea as to what they want for "everything", and go from there.     Taking an inventory is time consuming, and the longer it takes to come to some sort of agreement, means there's a bigger chance that some of the other "bears" in the woods will smell the honey.

Good luck and I hope you get it !!

Jeff

tallguy58

Cheers........Bill

TelePlay

Quote from: AL_as_needed on September 26, 2017, 08:58:43 PM
I saw a lantern in there! A Dietz 8-day maybe?

Yes, looks like a 1st generation 8-day (square tank, not round) but the globe cage is straight wire. It's a dead flame lantern. Really haven't paid much attention to deaf flame lanterns. Dates to the early to mid 30's. Don't know if that straight globe cage wire is early or later in that production run.

===========

As for that telephone pole, could it be the top of one of the poles that are shown laid down in the second photo from the top? The one standing in the background has a similar top. Possibly a souvenir of a rebuild job. And then again, maybe not. But if the photo could be tied to the pole, the provenance would make it worth a bit more, I would assume.

wds

After I had gone to bed last night the seller called and told me the collection was mine!  Now I need to figure out how in the world I'm going to pack all of this and get it to my house.  They seem to be in a hurry to get the collection out of the house so i will probably have to hire some movers to help me.  Holy Cow!
Dave