SA 24: Stromberg Carlson "1894" Coffee Grinder Upright Telephone - Ends 7-24-20

[TelePlay]

New and not so new forum members are very welcome and encouraged to take a guess. There are no wrong guesses, just one lucky guess. No one knows the winning bid on any auction until it ends. However, it is important to get your guess in before someone else grabs your guess.

New guesses must be at least $20.00 away from any prior guess.

Everyone is entitled to one (1) guess revision as long as it is posted in a reply at least 24 hours prior to the eBay auction ending.

https://www.ebay.com/itm/154011137489

Seller Description:  "Stromberg Carlson "1894" Antique Coffee Grinder Upright Telephone  --  One of the earliest upright telephones of it's time, this Stromberg Carlson telephone has been lovingly restored to it's original condition and stands apx. 13" Tall on it's wooden base.  --  The body appears to be copper and the color of the metal looks fabulous!   --  The crank handle turns without fail and the magneto at the interior is clean as a whistle!  --  The bells have an oblong shape to them and are roughly 2" diameter.  --  The switch hook is fixed and has a magnificent claw shape to it, the Stromberg Carlson receiver has been newly corded with green cloth cording and the cap is marked as:  The Stromberg Carlson Tel M'F'G Co.  --  Chicago  --  PAT'S June 12, Nov 27 '94.  --  The metal band on the receiver is also stamped Stromberg Carlson"

This is started as a "special rules" no winner contest, the best guesser will not be included in the CRPF Auction Contest Hall of Fame or be counted in the CRPF Contest Standings as a win. This one is just for fun, but the best guesser will take a place in the Special Auction Contest Standings.

NOTE:  This item has a reserve but even if the reserve is not met, the member guessing closest to the ending bid will have won the contest by most closely guessing the current market value of this item, even if it did not sell, did not meet the reserve.

Existing Forum discussion topic for this item:  http://www.classicrotaryphones.com/forum/index.php?topic=24110.0


S C O R E B O A R D

$   3,257.83 - Jim Stettler  ( 4 )
$   3,999.00 - Duffy  ( 3 )
$   4,327.89 - phonium  ( 2 )
$   5,600.00 - Scott  ( 5 )
$   6,500.00 - HarrySmith  ( 1 )


Early Morning Auction Status

07-17-20     Listed       $        9.99
07-18-20     8 bids       $     629.99
07-19-20   14 bids       $  1,625.00  - Reserve Not Met  (53 watchers)

Listing ended early (for a second time) by the seller on 19 July 2020

07-20-20
07-21-20   
07-22-20   
07-23-20   
07-24-20   Ends at 11:17:32AM PDT

[HarrySmith]

$6500.00

[Babybearjs]

they actually made one like that? don't like the design....

[phonium]

4327.89

[HarrySmith]

Very early desk stand. Apparently very rare, less than 10 known to exist.

[TelePlay]

Very early desk stand. Apparently very rare, less than 10 known to exist.

While this specific reply and discussion should, arguably, take place in the discussion topic link given above, it's posted here in response to the "pricing" or "current market value" of this item and as such is of more value in the contest topic to anyone brave enough to take a guess. A link to this contest will be placed in the discussion topic to tie all information on this item together.

The attached image and description of this very first, the SC Model No. 1 candlestick and it description has been taken from the "Top 50 Rarest Candlesticks" website at this link.

http://oldtelephones.com/telephones/top-50-rarest-candlesticks/phone/1894-stromberg-carlson-telephone-manufacturing-company-1894-model-no-1/

The site ranks this telephone as the 10th rarest candlestick in the world (second image). I do not know if the eBay seller is the same as the site from which it was taken. The site is well recognized as an authority, if not "the" authority on rare candlesticks.

It may be that even HarrySmith, who is always on the high end of auction contests, may have guessed well below the highest bid on this telephone.

[.....]

$3999.00

[Jack Ryan]

The site is well recognized as an authority, if not "the" authority on rare candlesticks.

It is pretty good and an exception that proves the rule is this:

http://oldtelephones.com/telephones/top-50-rarest-candlesticks/phone/1896-lm-ericsson-amp-co-potbelly-desk-set/

Which was not made by LM Ericsson.

(The point: we are all fallible)

Jack

[Jim Stettler]

$3,257.83

[Scott]

$5600.00

Scott K.

[TelePlay]

The point: we are all fallible

That is quite true, we are. The phrase is we all learn from mistakes, ours and others.

But is must be said that anyone, any person, site, organization or club member who makes a positive effort to help others in any way by sharing the information, that they have accumulated, learned, experienced or discovered during their decades of working with telephonic items, with others by way of any and all platforms they have available to them to disseminate such information so that others who are still learning, or in search of information, may benefit from the voluntarily provided information in one way or another, must be given they recognition deserve for their generous desire to both help with and advance this hobby for others.

So, if one or more errors are made anywhere in adding to some part of everything telephonic (and errors are just a means to further correct information, to make it more accurate, and not to be the subject of criticism), that does not degrade the effort(s) or denigrate the person who has chosen to take the time to do so and does not tarnish the intentions and the worth of their efforts, especially when many others who have decades of accumulated factual and accurate telephonic information at their fingertips and have done very little or nothing toward that end.

[Doug Rose]

Reserve not met...auction is over...Doug

[HarrySmith]

Looks like someone made him an offer he could not refuse.

"This listing was ended by the seller because the item is no longer available"

[Jack Ryan]

That is quite true, we are. The phrase is we all learn from mistakes, ours and others.

But is must be said that anyone, any person, site, organization or club member who makes a positive effort to help others in any way by sharing the information, that they have accumulated, learned, experienced or discovered during their decades of working with telephonic items, with others by way of any and all platforms they have available to them to disseminate such information so that others who are still learning, or in search of information, may benefit from the voluntarily provided information in one way or another, must be given they recognition deserve for their generous desire to both help with and advance this hobby for others.

So, if one or more errors are made anywhere in adding to some part of everything telephonic (and errors are just a means to further correct information, to make it more accurate, and not to be the subject of criticism), that does not degrade the effort(s) or denigrate the person who has chosen to take the time to do so and does not tarnish the intentions and the worth of their efforts, especially when many others who have decades of accumulated factual and accurate telephonic information at their fingertips and have done very little or nothing toward that end.

You totally missed my point and misinterpreted what I wrote.

I totally respect people who make an effort to research a topic but even with careful research, mistakes are made.

How many times have we seen an A1 handset mounting described as an AA1? We know that is incorrect but once upon a time an expert wrote that and now there are quite a few who swear that is correct. Same is true of SC Oilcan candlesticks. The universally accepted dates for those are incorrect.

The point is that what we know should be modified as we learn more. The fact is, that does not happen much at all.

Jack

[Jack Ryan]

Looks like someone made him an offer he could not refuse.

"This listing was ended by the seller because the item is no longer available"

I asked the seller for details of the hook switch but he did not respond.

There is a weld visible on the fixed hook of this one so at the very least, it has been repaired. My guess is that the original parts of the hook and the switch were missing.

Unfortunately there are not enough of these in the hands of people prepared to look inside so it is difficult to learn more.

As I wrote earlier, I don't believe I have seen one of these that is complete and original.

You don't have one do you?

Regards
Jack