Auction 152: WE 7/50 Early Production 500 Telephone - Ended 11/16/14

[TelePlay]

New forum members are very welcome and encouraged to take a guess. After all, there are no wrong guesses, just one lucky one. 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.

Contest Poll Question Results: 9 Yes vs. 2 No, so here's the contest.

Listed about three days ago in a 7 day auction with no reserve is, what appears to be early production WE 500, one with the curved "operator" lettering on the dial. The listing started at $9.99 and is now up to $1,195.00 by way of 5 bidders offering 9 bids. This phone is being discussed in its own topic on the forum at . . .

http://www.classicrotaryphones.com/forum/index.php?topic=13029.0

. . . so, once again, place your guesses here and discuss the phone at the above link. So, with that said, once again, who knows best what this phone will sell for when the bidding ends?

The seller listed it as an "Early Production 1950 Western Electric the Ultimate 500 Phone" with the item condition as "Used" and "Excellent cosmetic condition. Handset cord ends show deterioration." with the auction listing description as "A fine example of an earliest production W.E. '500' telephone set. This unique one-owner instrument held in a private collection for about 45 years is now offered for sale. It was never surrendered  to Pacific Telephone, never re-conditioned. Carefully examine all of the photos particularly the 1950 dating pattern. I am speaking literally here when I say a close look will reveal all its wonderful benchmarks. The dial shows no less than 7 inspect signatures. All of the parts are original except the line cord dated 1954. I'm certain the receiver cord must be original owing to the string tie at the receiver end but do not want to lift the base retainer to inspect it due to the condition of the rubber leads. The handset has the built in cord retainer and is dated. The dial is quite unusual in that it has circular '0' OPERATOR, a coil spring governor. The material of the dial plate makes the numbers partly translucent. The dial mount is aluminum. It has an equalizer and 425A network. The bell coil has a date stamp like BIA ringers in  the 302 and the open ended clapper wire is crimped with soft metal into a brass barrel. The underside shows original paint flow in the bell vents. (O.K. Inspect!) This striking example of limited post field trial early production this phone has no breakage, only some minor scuffs here and there,.. just a fine piece you will see only once in a lifetime. We will double box and ship 2-3 day Priority Mail. Thank you for your interest.....and good luck bidding.   Will respond to messages and are glad to provide additional photos if we missed anything."

http://www.ebay.com/itm/171536793197

NOTE: we will use a 3% gap rule between guesses to prevent crowding. As such, guess gaps of 6+% can be split. I'll help with these as the auction goes forward and guesses are entered.

It's another chance to move up a rung or to get onto the CRPF -> Contest Standings <- list,

       . . . for as twocvbloke said,   ---> "You gotta be in it to win it !!!" "

If you want to see the phones of past Auction Contests, click -> HERE <-


S C O R E B O A R D

$  1,200.00 - WesternElectricBen  ( 2 )
$  1,250.00 - Sargeguy  ( 8 )
$  1,300.00 - Russ Kirk  ( 5 )
$  1,350.00 - wds  ( 10 )
$  1,401.99 - zapper  ( 13 )
$  1,451.00 - kleinkaliber  ( 12 )
$  1,500.00 - Kenton K  ( 1 )
$  1,550.00 - AE_Collector  ( 14 )
$  1,600.00 - TelePlay  ( 15 )
$  1,650.00 - Gilas  ( 4 )
$  1,725.00 - Fabius  ( 7 )
$  1,800.00 - tallguy58  ( 3 )
$  1,900.00 - Mr. Bones  ( 11 )
$  2,000.00 - WEBellSystemChristian  ( 6 )
$  2,531.59 - david@london  ( 9 )  -> WINNER - Final Selling Price $2,850.00



Early Morning Auction Status Changes

11-09-14      Listed     $         9.99
11-10-14      4 bids     $       41.00
11-11-14      9 bids     $  1,195.00
11-12-14      9 bids     $  1,195.00
11-13-14      9 bids     $  1,195.00
11-14-14      9 bids     $  1,195.00
11-15-14      9 bids     $  1,195.00
11-16-14      9 bids     $  1,195.00
11-16-14      7 bidders, 12 bids $2,850.00  Ended at  17:04:56 PST

[Kenton K]

$1500

[WesternElectricBen]

1,200

[tallguy58]

$1800

[Gilas]

1650

[Russ Kirk]

$1300

[WEBellSystemChristian]

$2000

[Fabius]

$1725

[Sargeguy]

$1250

[Kenton K]

Also, I believe this was originally listed with a reserve, but it was met early on.

KK

[JimH]

 ???How much extra to throw in a set of black plungers?

[Phonesrfun]

Woah!  Missed the plungers.  Now it's got me wondering.....

[david@london]

very early sets did have clear plungers, i believe.

.......$2,531.59

[TelePlay]

The eBay listing is back, the description is there, so it has been added to the contest set up at the top of this thread.

The seller has also added some photos in the eBay listing of the phone's details that were apparently requested by buyers.

[TelePlay]

Here's the 3% "no crowding" gap spreadsheet for this contest with 9 guesses.

Available guesses or guess ranges are shown in GREEN within the small upper right black bordered box.

( click on the table to enlarge the image )