Appears to me to be a novelty device that someone has added a Southern Bell Sticker. Notice the hand has a wedding band on the finger. I have to hand it to them, that's a nice touch. I have that sticker. Someone found a bunch of them 20? years ago and I bought a couple.I'm going to keep an arm's distance from this item.
https://tinyurl.com/ybkye6c7
Quote from: Fabius on December 27, 2017, 11:17:38 PMI have to hand it to them, that's a nice touch. I'm going to keep an arm's distance from this item.
Hee hee hee... ;D
The second one was a little on the nose. The first one was pretty good--I didn't get that it was a pun at first, but I was able to put my
finger on it eventually! ;D ;D ;D
Looks like a handy gadget..................................................
Nice artifact. I've seen similar and much smaller boxes that do the same thing, lid pops open and a hand comes out to flip the switch off, but not for some time.
At $600, a bit pricey for a novelty but who knows, just takes one "gottohaveitnow" buyer to close the deal.
That must be one of those early auto-dialer devices where the arm reaches out of the box and dials the phone next to it. I have to hand it to the engineers who designed it ;D This device was married to another device which answered incoming calls, hence the wedding band :D
Larry
I think that this model might have also come with the 'hold' feature. It you give it the handset, it will hold it for you ;) These devices were featured in a 1964 television series.
Larry
Can someone say...Adams Family?
~
"Thank you, thing."
Looks Like someone from the Grace Brothers Display Department!
"They are out there . . . "
https://youtu.be/wlslwdB9Z4g ($50)
https://youtu.be/eLtUB8ncEnA ($21)
Something for someone who has almost everything . . .
The $51 "Do not touch" box is quite the toy.
Oh Brother...... $600.00 for a novelty device?? Seriously people....
Imagine being charged an arm and a leg for this, but only getting an arm in the box..... ;D
I bought my son a "useless box" kit a couple years ago for Christmas. The darn thing does bring a smile to your face....
I do agree that the "useless box" seems pretty fun, but for me, the fun would last about 2 minutes before I got bored.
Quote from: WEBellSystemChristian on December 29, 2017, 10:43:52 AM
I do agree that the "useless box" seems pretty fun, but for me, the fun would last about 2 minutes before I got bored.
I think I got my links a bit wrong. This "Advanced Useless Box" should keep you from getting bored for at least 10 minutes . . . ;)
Here's the video of this interactive box.
https://youtu.be/eLtUB8ncEnA
And, the simple useless box could be improved by placing a rubber or latex finger over that metal "pusher" to make it look more real, a more like real Thing box.
As for $600 for the topic subject, it might be the round sticker that bumped the price up by $550 . . .
If I read the description correct, it was made either by or for Southern Bell. So the sticker wasn't just added if I read it correct.
D/P
Here is the description, for posterity:
"I purchased this from the daughter of a gentleman that worked for Southern Bell. She said they used it for marketing and would travel around and show at trade fairs and schools. The idea of it is that you flip the switch and a motorized arm will come out of the box and turn the switch back off and then go back into the box . It works intermittently the light doesn't always come on and the arm doesn't always come all the way out or go back all the way in on its own. So need some attention"
It seems plausible, but I would guess it was an individual worker who bought it from a gag toy company, and slapped a Southern Bell sticker on it.
Quote from: WEBellSystemChristian on December 29, 2017, 12:25:44 PM
It seems plausible, but I would guess it was an individual worker who bought it from a gag toy company, and slapped a Southern Bell sticker on it.
I agree. I think the box is old but someone put the sticker on it.
Yes, someone did put the "sticker" on but to me, it looks like a water slide decal. You can see the grain through the clear (dark) areas and the grain under the center "cream" colored part is worn off due to rubbing on the high spot, the raised grain. That defect in the lower right edge reminds me well of the decals I applied to model airplanes in the late 50's which tore like that if things didn't go well.
Those water slide decals were very thin and very fragile when wet and just he slightest error would cause wrinkling or tearing. This is most likely a one off made for that office's use as a marketing prop.
I found that a crystal bowl filled with Werther's Original shiny gold wrapped candies under fluorescent lights on the center of my table at a trade show attracted a lot of attention. This most likely was a better hook.