Find of the Month - June 2012

[AE_Collector]

Post your "Finds of the Month" for June 2012 Here.

"Finds of the Month" are items that you acquired this month that you are particulatly excited about either because of its rarity, the difficulty you had in trying to find one for your collection or the exceptional "deal" you got on it etc.

Terry

[TelePlay]

I'll start this month with this exceptional deal.

$2.50 total from a flea market stand.

Pictures are as received, no cleaning or polishing. Handset cord seems to be newer. Black cloth line cord seems original but needs to be replaced.

Plugged the modular plug into my TeleTone. Got a dial tone. Dialed out just fine and rang when dialed. Only defects are the deteriorated base gasket and worn line cord.

[AE_Collector]

Nice "find" John! Did you try offering them $2 even!   Nice find with the chrome even at $2.50. It is definitely an early AE 40 with cloth wiring inside and the early steel dial mounting ring. As you said, the handset cord isn't original nor is it an AE cord based on the color of the conductors.

Thanks for the "Find of the Month" submission. Any more "Finds" out there lately, anyone?

Terry

[JorgeAmely]

You can get a replacement gasket from Gary Geoff for ~ $11: almost 4x what you paid for the phone, but it is worth it.

[TelePlay]

Did you try offering them $2 even!  

Nope! Sent my wife over with two dollar bills and 58 cents in change. She came back with the phone and 8 cents. No way I could have walked up to that stand without giving away my anxious desire to finally score at a flea market.

Here's the complete set up as received showing chrome plungers, black carry handle, and frayed line cord.

[Doug Rose]

BEAUTIFUL!!!!

How can anything top this for that Amazing price!


BEAUTIFUL!!!!

Doug

[Gilas]

Amazing find and absolutely beautiful

[dsk]

When you may find things like that, I cant stop believing Santa is real.

dsk

[Dennis Markham]

That was a great find.  That is a beautiful phone.  The dial card is awesome.  Congrats!

[jsowers]

John, you definitely got a terrific bargain. Your AE40 is almost the complete opposite of the party line AE40 we had when I was growing up. It had a chrome handhold and buttons, and everything else was black. I always thought it was totally stripped down, but I guess it had one option after all.

The Strowger P-A-X, I assume from the little I've seen about it, was an inter-office phone system or an early version of the Home Interphone for the well-to-do. You could dial from office to office or room to room, but I'm not sure if outside calls were handled on it or not. Anyone know?

[poplar1]

The P-A-X (Private Automatic Exchange) was often installed in Bell areas (not by Bell)  and as such did not have outside trunks.

Sometimes it was used in the same office with a Bell PBX (Private Branch Exchange), i.e., two phones on each desk (an AE dial set and a WE manual set). The Bell PBX such as a 551 or 555 would have connections to outside trunks (by the attendant).

An automatic switch with outside trunks is a PABX (Private Automatic Branch Exchange) or EPABX (Electronic Private Branch Exchange); both PABX and EPABX are often shortened to "PBX."

[liteamorn]

You were had Teleplay! That phone is OLD!!  Nice phone!!!! Better price!!

[AE_Collector]

Okay, I'm posting a couple of my finds this month since (almost) no one else is.

From the North West (Seattle) Phone show hosted by our own Bill "phonesrfun" Geurts on June 16 2012:

I snagged this AE Dawn Gray 87 Set for $15 but it was missing the handset and Dial assembly/number plate. It came with matching gray set cord and handset cord though. I decided that for now at least I would make it an early "two tone" set by using an early black bakelite type 81 handset with black cord and a black numberplate dial with black on brass fingerwheel. I should probably change the set cord to black as well but haven't wanted to incase I get a gray dial and handset to put on it in the future.

Terry

[AE_Collector]

And here's another from the Seattle show.

An Ivory 302 less dial to go with the Ivory 354 that I have had for ever. I don't go out of my way to collect other than AE but thought that an Ivory 302 to put withthe Ivory 354 would be keepers even for an AE_collector. I paid $47.50 though it was $95 but I jumped on it when everything on Kevin's table went on the block at half price near the end. It has a couple of stress cracks AND the usual crack in the front corner (visible lower left side) but that doesn't bother me.

Terry

[Dennis Markham]

Nice, Terry.  The two-tone looks great.  Nice price on the Ivory 302 too.  Looks like kitty approves of them both.