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Not so “RARE” phones, phony items and other such fakery on eBay

Started by Phonesrfun, March 17, 2011, 01:36:48 PM

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HarrySmith

To be fair, not all sellers are being intentionally dishonest. Some are just uninformed and/or too lazy to research what they are selling. I once contacted a seller who was offering a  plain old 500 and listing it as a mushroom. I told him about the dial light & hood. He replied he did not know anything about phones and stated he saw an auction that resembled his phone. He sent me the auction number which was a mushroom. I indicated the light hood to him. He apologized and changed his listing.
Harry Smith
ATCA 4434
TCI

"There is no try,
there is only
do or do not"

TelePlay

Quote from: HarrySmith on February 19, 2014, 08:03:08 AM
To be fair, not all sellers are being intentionally dishonest.

That is so true, Harry. I know we have a little fun with some sellers at their expense due to what they post out of lack of knowledge, but it is in fun in most cases. Yes, once and a while there is true dishonesty in one form or another, but in most cases it is not intentional and we post those cases as both a bit of a laugh and more for the educational purpose of pointing out an error, sometimes subtle except to the pro-phone guy, that shows up in an eBay listing. Good for you for educating that 500 seller.

twocvbloke

Quote from: Scotophor on February 19, 2014, 02:20:56 AMSellers misspelling (or leaving out) the most important keyword in their title, loading the title with cryptic abbreviations or words nobody searches by (rare, look, LQQK, unique, etc.) always make me laugh and shake my head.

The "Look" one that bugs me the most is "L@@K", cos to me that says LATATK, not "Look", but people like to make themselves appear to be numpties, it's best to just leave them be and have them lose a whole boatload of money on something they put "L@@K" on... :P

TelePlay

Couldn't figure out which of several topics this "Vintage Rotary Wooden Telephone w/ Ringer Box" would be the best place to post this so it's here.

Seller says it's Vintage Wooden Telephone w/ Antique Ringer Box and bells, I picked this rotary phone up at an Estate Sale. It needs repair of the wall cord. I have had it plugged in and it rang, but the static is very bad due to the damage of the plug. It is beautiful craftsmanship and worth repairing for someone who has the perfect place for this phone. It would be great in a cabin or in your home. We have enjoyed it for years as a work of art, but it can be repaired and used as a land line if you wish. I have included pictures of inside the box. You can see that someone updated the wiring. The crank is for looks only.


BIN for only $78.99 with Free Shipping, if anyone is interested.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/351019171899

rdelius

Kellogg box, AE ringer,Norweigen handset, Belgium cradle,WE dial mount -a good one, TAP dial
Smells Phoneco

TelePlay

Quote from: twocvbloke on February 20, 2014, 07:05:20 AM
The "Look" one that bugs me the most is "L@@K", cos to me that says LATATK, not "Look", but people like to make themselves appear to be numpties, it's best to just leave them be and have them lose a whole boatload of money on something they put "L@@K" on... :P

Hey, twocv . . .   L@@K at this!

An un-restored hard plastic sold for $517 (as in Auction Contest 111) and this restored, matching date 1958 SP pink Mushroom is but $400 BIN plus $15 for shipping.

twocvbloke

See? if that sells for $400, then they've lost $117 right there.... ;D

tallguy58

Cheers........Bill

HarrySmith

#98
Just spotted another fake candlestick on aBay. Has the usual November 1910 date on the tranmsitter cup amd what appears to be an AE dial. Comes with a 500 clone in a wood box as a subset.

https://www.ebay.com/itm/273562014345
( dead link 05-27-21 )
Harry Smith
ATCA 4434
TCI

"There is no try,
there is only
do or do not"

rdelius

That is a Japanese "TAP" dial,all plastic but works well. An AE would be better

markosjal

Let me also add this:

I have bought and sold some phones of questionable origin here is one example in photos

This phone was purchased on ebay and listed as an Automatic Electric. It came out of the midwest. I got it cheap enough and when I got it, I did find 100% AE parts inside circa 1970s. Interestingly enough, I have now seen other wooden box phones from the same era with AE parts  and very similar design. Another such phone sold on ebay a few months ago witha a very similar design from a completely different region of the USA.

I did make this into a frankenstein phone however as the gongs on front were only decorative. It got an Ericsson ringer installed and new brass Ericsson Gongs that really rang on the front . Having one of the small ringers inside the wooden box was like putting the ringer under a pillow.  Gongs ringing on the front of phone made it more authentic and classy. It only required one hole for the clapper to come out.

Aside from the fact that there were no brass screws in it, Of course the brass screws may have required replacement with longer/fatter screws after many years . I almost believe this really was a 'real" AE and in fact even yesterday saw an odder AE desk set in a page here  in this forum. 

Link added here
http://www.classicrotaryphones.com/forum/index.php?topic=22657.0

As I recall it was newer shell with older parts. It really makes me wonder if there was a move to get rid of all older AE parts at some point , when they started actually selling phones.

So my point is that we do not always know about the origin of something, and maybe even some of these were assembled by small independent telecos The "Mollalla Rural Telephone Company" in Oregon seemed to always have odd stuff installed as I recall, some SC, some AE , some WE, some ITT and some I could never identify. I even remember a telco installed Trimline type phone that was a mix of ITT and SC in Mollalla.

In my case of the wooden phone a buyer from Guadalajara was willing to pay a few hundred dollars saying it was "exactly what he was looking for".  I would again gamble on any wooden box phone like this as it was a huge margin and fast turn-around.

Also this guy in Argentina has a big business . He started by putting old phone parts into new wooden boxes and he has sold a lot of them all over the world.
https://articulo.mercadolibre.com.ar/MLA-756984663-telefono-antiguo-de-pared-replica-_JM?quantity=1&variation=33236683194

So maybe a "purist" "collector" may not be interested in a wooden box AE phone that I could not prove was an AE box, but at the same time many buyers are interested. I never lied about the phone, I was told both that it was,  and that it was not all AE original as I received it, depending on who I asked.

I agree that I do not like replicas being sold off as authentic and always see this on ebay as well as lies on other products as well. There is one guy on mercadolibre mexico listing a Modular WE 500 as "Bakelite".
Phat Phantom's phreaking phone phettish

Pourme

What caught my eye on this one is the recessed dial mount. That makes it unique, as compared to others I have seen. The live gongs are a very nice touch, as well!
Benny

Panasonic 308/616 Magicjack service

HarrySmith

#102
Just came across another repro stick on eBay. Looks like the seller has no idea.

https://www.ebay.com/itm/Candlestick-Phone-Brass-American-Bell-Telephone-Patented-1910-READ-DESCRIPTION/283804057111
Harry Smith
ATCA 4434
TCI

"There is no try,
there is only
do or do not"

FABphones

A collector of  'Monochrome Phones with Sepia Tones'   ...and a Duck!
***********
Vintage Phones - 10% man made, 90% Tribble
*************

MMikeJBenN27

I agree 100%.  There is somebody called AmericanHeritagemuseum.com, spelled that way with no spaces, trying to sell an ivory Western Electric 302.  They insist that it is a 30s phone, even though I have tried to point out to them that this 302 was made in the late 40s or early to mid 50s, and the reason I know that is because it has a Post War base plate, plus, 30s phones had a painted metal shell, not a plastic one.  They want almost $600.00 for it, and advertise it as completely restored, with no cracks or chips.  It is FULL of cracks.  E-Bay refuses to do anything about it.

Mike