Classic Rotary Phones Forum

Telephone Talk => Find of the Month Archive => Find of the Year Contests Archive => Topic started by: AE_Collector on January 24, 2015, 12:05:40 PM

Poll
Question: The "Find of the YEAR for 2015" - Second Run-Off Poll    Vote for your ONE Favorite!
Option 1: HarrySmith's painted Green AE 35 for $5 from Roger Conklin's collection at Maitland votes: 11
Option 2: wds' American Electric Fluted Column Candlestick on eBay for $74.99 plus $12.30 shipping votes: 16
Title: *** The "Find of the YEAR" for 2015 ***
Post by: AE_Collector on January 24, 2015, 12:05:40 PM
It is time once again to vote for the VERY BEST "Find" from all of the "Find of the Month" winners through 2015.

Take a few minutes to go through the list below. John "TelePlay" has created one post per entrant along with the brief details, a link to the original nomination and the separate topic on CRPF if there was one, and has included one picture of each contestant. The pictures are from the Photobucket site that John maintains of all the "Find of the Month" winners as well as the winners of all of the "Auction Contests".

There are twelve contestants to choose from so lets do THREE VOTES EACH and see who wins the coveted (limited edition) "Find of the YEAR - 2015" trophy!

Everyone should be able to come up with three favorites here so please try to use all THREE of your votes. If you inadvertently vote for less than three contestants, click the "Remove Vote" button at the bottom left of poll and then place your THREE VOTES again.

Thanks John for taking the time to put yet another "Find of Year" contest together. Much appreciated!

Terry
Title: Re: *** The "Find of the YEAR" for 2015 ***
Post by: TelePlay on January 24, 2015, 12:07:37 PM
January 2015's "Winner":

HarrySmith's painted Green AE 35 for $5 from Roger Conklin's collection at Maitland

Here is the original Find if the Month nomination:
http://www.classicrotaryphones.com/forum/index.php?topic=13371.msg141378#msg141378

HarrySmith posted this about it:

I would like to nominate my entire phone haul from Maitland but I realize I can only choose one. I had a tough time with making a choice. I was torn between the 1950 500 and the AE 35. Finally chose the AE 35 as I believe it is harder to find, at least here in the US. So, here it is my painted Green AE35. Picked up at Maitland from Roger Conklin's collection for $5.00. I will start a thread once I begin restoration.
Title: Re: *** The "Find of the YEAR" for 2015 ***
Post by: TelePlay on January 24, 2015, 12:08:26 PM
February 2015's "Winner":

wds' black AE34B Monophone for $30 plus $12 shipping on Etsy

Here is the original Find if the Month nomination:
http://www.classicrotaryphones.com/forum/index.php?topic=13558.msg144494#msg144494

wds posted this about it:

I have a last minute entry.  Got this off of Etsy - $30 (plus $12 shipping) and it just arrived today.  Not a scratch on the phone.  Not sure if it's a AE34 with the wrong handset, or a AE34B with the correct handset.  Either way, great price.
Title: Re: *** The "Find of the YEAR" for 2015 ***
Post by: TelePlay on January 24, 2015, 12:08:49 PM
March 2015's "Winner":

TelePlay's 1965 black WE 10 button 1500 with Bakelite handset for $9.30 from Antique Store

Here is the original Find if the Month nomination:
http://www.classicrotaryphones.com/forum/index.php?topic=13559.msg146566#msg146566

Teleplay posted this about it:

Since it will take me a few months to restore this phone before selling it, which falls under the rules, I'd like to nominate the 1965 black 1500 I found at an Antique Mall for a total cost of $9.30. It is both a unique (sort of rare) phone with a very good price. Still surprised I found it sitting on that shelf in the store.

It has the original handset and line cords and a G1 Bakelite handset. Most of the dates match. Other than dirt, there are no defects (cracks, chips, etc).


http://www.classicrotaryphones.com/forum/index.php?topic=14020.msg146563#msg146563
Title: Re: *** The "Find of the YEAR" for 2015 ***
Post by: TelePlay on January 24, 2015, 12:09:05 PM
April 2015's "Winner":

Sargeguy's WECo 20-C candlestick with matching telescoping arm for $63 on eBay

Here is the original Find if the Month nomination:
http://www.classicrotaryphones.com/forum/index.php?topic=14077.msg148882#msg148882

Sargeguy posted this about it:

I'll nominate my Western Electric 20-C candlestick with matching telescoping arm.  While these vertically mounted candlesticks come up for sale reatively frequently, the arms themselves are very hard to find.  I have been looking for an arm for my 20-A since I purchased it a while ago.
Title: Re: *** The "Find of the YEAR" for 2015 ***
Post by: TelePlay on January 24, 2015, 12:09:21 PM
May 2015's "Winner":

LarryInMichigan's Mediterranean Blue WE 500 at a garage sale for $50

Here is the original Find if the Month nomination:
http://www.classicrotaryphones.com/forum/index.php?topic=14278.msg150093#msg150093

LarryInMichigan posted this about it:

I might as well nominate my Mediterranean Blue WE 500 which I got at a garage sale.
Title: Re: *** The "Find of the YEAR" for 2015 ***
Post by: TelePlay on January 24, 2015, 12:09:35 PM
June 2015's "Winner":

AdamAnt316's Western Electric 1953 ivory 305 from a friend for free

Here is the original Find if the Month nomination:
http://www.classicrotaryphones.com/forum/index.php?topic=14454.msg151580#msg151580

AdamAnt316 posted this about it:

Here's my big find of the month, an ivory Western Electric 305 which I got from a friend for free. I haven't removed the base to check for sure, but the base is type H4, and the switch is marked OFF-ON, which seems to correspond with the 305. The inside of the handset is dated 11-53. The only cracks I've been able to find are minor ones in the receiver and transmitter caps, and they don't go all the way through to the inside. The handset cord (original?) is frayed near where it enters the handset, and the line cord (apparently white cloth covered) has been cut where it enters the base. Other than the aforementioned cracks and cord issues, it looks to be in pretty good shape.
Title: Re: *** The "Find of the YEAR" for 2015 ***
Post by: TelePlay on January 24, 2015, 12:09:53 PM
July 2015's "Winner":

TelePlay's all original 1939 H1 302 with 1937 E1 handset and cloth cords for $33.11

Here is the original Find if the Month nomination:
http://www.classicrotaryphones.com/forum/index.php?topic=14591.msg151814#msg151814

TelePlay posted this about it:

Kind of nice in that I don't find that many phones worthy of being nominated. But this one is nice. Yes, it is as shiny as it looks in the photos and that is the way I found it in an antique store I was driving by in my work truck today. Paid a total of $33.11 for the phone plus sales tax. It's an all original 1939 H1 302 with a 1937 E1 handset and perfect cloth cords. Other than a few small paint chips on the ears, this looks like a NOS phone. The pictures at the below link show the phone in detail.

http://www.classicrotaryphones.com/forum/index.php?topic=14624.0
Title: Re: *** The "Find of the YEAR" for 2015 ***
Post by: TelePlay on January 24, 2015, 12:10:09 PM
August 2015's "Winner":

Jf510's Pekin Red 302 that he found at an estate sale for $60

Here is the original Find if the Month nomination:
http://www.classicrotaryphones.com/forum/index.php?topic=14719.msg154223#msg154223

Jf510 posted this about it:

I just picked up this orange/red Western Electric phone and am stumped on how to remove the finger wheel so I can put a phone number or something blank in the center. I have never had a problem with removing a finger wheel. I know you rotate it clockwise until it stops then get a finger wheel removal tool or paper clip and push it in the hole and turn it a little more clockwise and off it comes but I can't get this one off doing it that way. I can't figure out what I am doing wrong. I don't want to break the finger wheel because I have no others. Your advice is appreciated. /i]

http://www.classicrotaryphones.com/forum/index.php?topic=14854.msg154115#msg154115
Title: Re: *** The "Find of the YEAR" for 2015 ***
Post by: TelePlay on January 24, 2015, 12:10:24 PM
September 2015's "Winner":

persido's Rose Beige 12/55 554 found in a local antique store for $5

Here is the original Find if the Month nomination:
http://www.classicrotaryphones.com/forum/index.php?topic=14897.msg155912#msg155912

persido posted this about it:

I would like to nominate the rose beige  554 from 12/55, it was found in a local antique store.
Title: Re: *** The "Find of the YEAR" for 2015 ***
Post by: TelePlay on January 24, 2015, 12:10:42 PM
October 2015's "Winner":

zapper's 1955 Mahogany Brown Western Electric 500 on eBay for $25.99 plus $18.18 Shipping

Here is the original Find if the Month nomination:
http://www.classicrotaryphones.com/forum/index.php?topic=15019.msg157009#msg157009

zapper posted this about it:

I will nominate my 1955 Mahogany Brown Western Electric telephone, purchased on eBay
Title: Re: *** The "Find of the YEAR" for 2015 ***
Post by: TelePlay on January 24, 2015, 12:10:58 PM
November 2015's "Winner":

Mr. Bones' II/47 WE191G on eBay for $307 + $29.12 Shipping

Here is the original Find if the Month nomination:
http://www.classicrotaryphones.com/forum/index.php?topic=15125.msg158795#msg158795

Mr. Bones posted this about it:

Received another pay station telephone on 24NOV15 in the mail. It appears to be a II/47 191G, in as-removed condition, for the most part, although the fake vault door was present. I haven't delved around too much inside, but the interior seems to be complete. I haven't tried cycling any coins through the upper, at this point. My 10H/G master key opened the top just fine. There's lots of refurb dates on some of the components, adding to the story. It also has the 634A subset, and proper backer board.

http://www.classicrotaryphones.com/forum/index.php?topic=8582.msg158793#msg158793
Title: Re: *** The "Find of the YEAR" for 2015 ***
Post by: TelePlay on January 24, 2015, 12:11:12 PM
December 2015's "Winner":

wds' American Electric Fluted Column Candlestick on eBay for $74.99 plus $12.30 shipping

Here is the original Find if the Month nomination:
http://www.classicrotaryphones.com/forum/index.php?topic=15277.msg159413#msg159413

wds posted this about it:

I'm going to nominate my American Electric Fluted Column Candlestick.  $74.99 plus $12.30 shipping.  Quite a bargain at that price.  It's going out next week to get some new Nickel, then to my display case.
Title: Re: *** The "Find of the YEAR" for 2015 ***
Post by: AE_Collector on January 13, 2016, 09:33:32 PM
It is that time of the year again! Time to study the twelve monthly winners from 2015 and vote for your three favorites!

Everyone should be able to come up with three favorites here so please try to use all THREE of your votes. If you inadvertently vote for less than three contestants, click the "Remove Vote" button at the bottom left of poll and then place your THREE VOTES again.

Thanks John for taking the time to put yet another "Find of Year" contest together. Much appreciated!

Good luck to all of the contestants!

Terry
Title: Re: *** The "Find of the YEAR" for 2015 ***
Post by: AE_Collector on January 18, 2016, 12:03:27 AM
Okay, it looks as though a Run-Off vote is in order to further narrow down the Find if the YEAR ultimate winner. It is always difficult to determine where to draw the line but there seemed to be a reasonable gap between the top four with 12, 11, 11 & 10 votes and the next highest number of votes at 7.

So, we need to start over with TWO votes each and just the top four Finds remaining to vote for.

Excellent job at using up all of your votes last round everyone! There were 28 voters and 83 total votes placed. That is just one voter who only used two votes and everyone else used all three of there votes!

Terry

Here is the results at the time we started the Run-Off Poll:
Title: Re: *** The "Find of the YEAR" for 2015 ***
Post by: AE_Collector on January 21, 2016, 12:40:36 AM
Okay, here we go again...a new record on CRPF. Even a run-off poll has left us at a dead tie for 1st & 2nd place for Find if the YEAR and ironically another tie for 3rd & 4th place. So, we are going with a SECOND RUN-Off POLL. Sorry persido and zapper, it has come down to Harry Smiths Automatic Electric 35 wallphone and wds' American Electric fluted column candlestick.

So tell all your friends, they have to come back and vote one FINAL time for the "Find of the YEAR". 

Immediately below is the results of the first Run-Off poll.

Terry
Title: Re: *** The "Find of the YEAR" for 2015 ***
Post by: Fabius on January 22, 2016, 11:46:32 AM
Quote from: AE_Collector on January 21, 2016, 12:45:54 AM
January 2015's "Winner":

HarrySmith's painted Green AE 35 for $5 from Roger Conklin's collection at Maitland

Here is the original Find if the Month nomination:
http://www.classicrotaryphones.com/forum/index.php?topic=13371.msg141378#msg141378

HarrySmith posted this about it:

. So, here it is my painted Green AE35. Picked up at Maitland from Roger Conklin's collection for $5.00. I will start a thread once I begin restoration.

I'm not very knowledge on desk and wall sets. Did this AE35 come from the AE factory painted?
Title: Re: *** The "Find of the YEAR" for 2015 ***
Post by: AE_Collector on January 22, 2016, 09:29:31 PM
No, AE didn't do factory paint the way WE did. There may be some exceptions but they did have inhouse refurbishing services that may have repainted to fix discoloration problems on used phones but not as a way to create new and different marketable colors.

Harry's 35 was just a simple spray painted bakelite phone (I believe). It had been Roger Conklins and both Harry and myself saw it as well as many other treasures belonging to Roger when together we visited Roger in December if 2013. We need Roger back to get "The Rest if the Stiry" behind it.

Terry
Title: Re: *** The "Find of the YEAR" for 2015 ***
Post by: AE_Collector on January 23, 2016, 11:55:08 AM
We are quickly running out of time to vote for the Find of the YEAR. Voting will end later today so if you haven't voted yet, please do. Remember that this is the THIRD vote (second run-off). Sorry it has taken so long but that is what happens occasionally when there are so many great finds and being a competiotion to determine the winner for all of 2015, we want to get it right!

Voting ends at about 6:30 PM Pacific, 9:30 PM Eastern, 2:30 AM Great Britain, 3:30 AM dsk, 10:30 PM Dave_PEI & 11 PM New Foundland (Inside one for Canadians).

Terry
Title: Re: *** The "Find of the YEAR" for 2015 ***
Post by: HarrySmith on January 23, 2016, 06:07:04 PM
I'm sure Roger had a story about when & where this phone came from and why it was painted like that. I do not remember the story if he told it because there were so many stories that day! My head was reeling when we left!
Title: Re: *** The "Find of the YEAR" for 2015 ***
Post by: AE_Collector on January 23, 2016, 07:26:22 PM
I remember Roger pointing out many different phones and telling us about them and how he acquired each of them but as you say, there were SO MANY that I cant begin to remember any of the stories now.

I had sent Roger a couple of things over the years including a NE butt set and phones and he pointed them out to me. Roger had worked for NT for years and I had some 70-90's NT stuff that brought back some memories for him so I sent them to him a few years ago. One was a Northern Telecom phone that BC Telephone had NT design and build for them as a basic rental phone which Roger pointed out to me that it was his "daily driver".

Sure glad we made it there that day, even if the Red Lobster (where Roger was patiently waiting for us to meet him for lunch) threatened to charge him a minimum hourly fee to sit and wait! (We were a little late arriving)

Terry

Title: Re: *** The "Find of the YEAR" for 2015 ***
Post by: AE_Collector on January 23, 2016, 11:48:28 PM
Time to wrap up the "Find of the YEAR" competition for 2015 so we can turn our attention to 2016.

Congratulations go out to wds for his American Electric Fluted Shaft Candlestick that he bought on eBay for $74.99 plus $12.30 shipping. A remarkable find and a stunning restoration is already underway. wds had a monthly win in 2014 and two monthly wins in 2015 toped off with this Find of the YEAR win for 2015. A very good year indeed!

wds had lots of real good competition. Initially we started with 12 contestants and after a few days of voting we started a run-off poll between the top 4 who were just that much further ahead of the rest of the pack. We had hoped for a clear winner to emerge but that didn't happen so we then started a second run-off poll between just the top two which were Harry Smiths AE 35 and wds' American Electric candlestick. Finally wds emerged as the winner. Congratulations as well to Harry for his excellent find and fantastic restoration and congratulations to everyone who had an entry in this contest. Each one of you had already won the Find of the Month contest at some point in 2015.

Congratulations again Wds, here is the trophy that John "TelePlay" slaved away for months creating in his extensive metal, wood, plastic & electrical work shops located behind the hidden door in the back of the pantry cupboard just off of his kitchen! Thanks John!

And here is the "Find of the Month - Winners List" for all contests to date:
http://www.classicrotaryphones.com/forum/index.php?topic=12971.0

Terry
Title: Re: *** The "Find of the YEAR" for 2015 ***
Post by: wds on January 24, 2016, 10:06:09 AM
Thank you for that fine trophy!  I think this is the first Find of the Year trophy for a candlestick!   I've had some pretty good finds the last couple of years, but this is my best so far.  Thanks everyone. 
Title: Re: *** The "Find of the YEAR" for 2015 ***
Post by: TelePlay on January 24, 2016, 11:31:33 AM
Yes, the first stick ever in the history of the Find of the YEAR. Congrats on that accomplishment.

The past 6 winners and their trophies can be found in this gallery:

http://s1000.photobucket.com/user/CRPF/library/Find%20of%20the%20Month/Find%20of%20the%20Year
Title: Re: *** The "Find of the YEAR" for 2015 ***
Post by: HarrySmith on January 24, 2016, 04:20:18 PM
Congrats Dave! Awesome phone.
Title: Re: *** The "Find of the YEAR" for 2015 ***
Post by: Dennis Markham on January 24, 2016, 09:33:07 PM
Congratulations Dave!  It was a very nice find and well deserved.  It is nice to get a stick phone on the list of Find of the Year winners.

The runner up wasn't too shabby either.  Harry your phone certainly qualifies for the "bringing back from the dead" category.  It was a beautiful job of restoring that AE50.

~Dennis