heres a good question... how does one make sure that their telephone collection stays within these collector groups when he/she passes on.... even though its written in thier will, the family doesnt always follow through... what kind of services does ATCA and TCI have for keeping the phones safe from the thrift stores... or is that a good way to start collecting.... I have several 300 and 400 series phones, all in working order and I don't want them just "thrown out" so to speak when its time... what do you all think??
My wife and children know the value of my phones. They know the phones are great investment as well. Whether you like eBay or not, have them post 12 pictures and say old phone. Put it in the proper catergory and it will sell for whatever the going rate is/was at that time.
They also know I would haunt them to the end of time if they did something stupid with them....Doug
My girlfriend has taken to these and probably has a better eye than I do with them. My youngest daughter and her boyfriend were over the other day and were wide eyed over them. i think my phones will be fine, besides, I'm taking some of them with me :) .
Quote from: Babybearjs on November 23, 2011, 03:37:30 AM
heres a good question... how does one make sure that their telephone collection stays within these collector groups when he/she passes on.... even though its written in thier will, the family doesnt always follow through... what kind of services does ATCA and TCI have for keeping the phones safe from the thrift stores... or is that a good way to start collecting.... I have several 300 and 400 series phones, all in working order and I don't want them just "thrown out" so to speak when its time... what do you all think??
There are no guarantees, and the clubs have no "programs" for keeping phones within the "family". That function is really not within the scope of the clubs, and if you consider what would be involved, it would be an impossible task.
Most collectors make arrangements for passing them on, but they are known to go the way of auctions too. I have a friend in my town who is now in his 80's and slowing down considerably, and has spent some time in the hospital recently. He has quite a bunch of parts and phones, and so I have asked him what he plans on doing with it. For now he is still thinking he will recover and be back to the health he enjoyed years ago. So, he does not want to think about it. He just says it will go to his son, and his son can do with it whatever he wants. His son, by the way, is not a phone collector.
It is pretty hard to do or say anything that will change a person's mind at that point, and that is why no collector's club can actively do anything.
The thing that the clubs do provide is a network of folks that get together either in forums such as this or the TCI or ATCA listserves, but more importantly, in person. The telephone collector shows are excellent ways for people to come together and not only share in the hobby and buy and sell phones, but to build friendships. Some of the real "old-timers" on the listserves go way-way back and they are fiercely loyal to one another. Recently, the costs of travel and gas, and the hassles with airlines has really made it difficult for people to travel to national shows. The regional shows, while smaller still provide a good venue for getting together.
Remember that the Internet is a recent phenomonon. In the past, club get-togethers and shows were the only way phone collectors had to get together and build their friendships.
These days with the Internet, e-baY, and the nameless "handles" and the here today and gone tomorrow ways makes it a totally different hobby than it once was.
I like this forum better than the listserves because I think it is more personable, and we can post pictures easier than on the listserves.
However, remember that if you really want to tap into more knowledge and more experience, you should not ignore the listserves.
I'll get off my soapbox now.....
One more thing...
Both clubs have monthly newsletters with a classified section, so if someone plans on selling an entire collection or a spouse of a deceased collector wants to sell within the hobby, those are also available.
Excellent posts, Bill. I agree 100% with your thoughts on this issue. Thank you for sharing them.
Doug Rose:
Didn't you start a thread in the past on this topic? 6 to 12 months ago. I can't seem to find it at the moment but undoubtable there will be more good responses in that thread as well.
Someone was telling me fairly recently about a program from one of the European or maybe it was Australia/New Zealand clubs where they did just this sort of thing. They had a program to handle the distribution of collections from deceased (or maybe even downsizing) club members. That seemed like a WIN-WIN-WIN arrangement to me for all concerned parties. Phones went to good homes, the estate got what they were worth rather than garage sale pricing, club memebers got a good shot at adding to their collections at reasonable and fair prices.
I think this would be something that the North American clubs should really consider looking at.
Terry
Another point, there is an excellent article in the TCI newsletter "Singing Wires", talking about the Bill Daniels estate auction. Some extremely fine items, indeed.
A membership in TCI gets you all the past Singing Wires issues on line, if anyone is interested.
thanks guys! the problem that I have, as some of you might have seen before is family that doesnt care about personal effects after they leave. my dads estate was totally lost to "Stupid" people, my sisters... he had a whole shop of woodworking tools, HO scale trains, various antiques... all lost because no one cared.... to this day I don't know what happend because one of my sisters, who was a druggie, supposedly "lost" my dads effects... wonder how much stuff wound up in the pawn shop???? so, you can see my concern... John
Well, that is unfortunate, indeed.
I have heard of that happening and it is really maddening, to say the least. One thing I think happens is that one man's treasures are another's trash. I really understand my hobby, but to some, it's just a collection of old junk. It's too bad that others don't take the time to realize just what is involved.
Of course the other issue is when there is someone who does as you describe and somehow "looses" the inheritance due to less than appropriate acts.
I plan to be cremated in a phone booth on a pyre of wooden magneto boxes and subsets clutching my WE Type 22 in hand and my early 20-B in the other. Other than that I am not worried about what happens to the phones, I imagine they will find there way back into circulation eventually.
Quote from: Sargeguy on November 24, 2011, 12:34:38 PM
I plan to be cremated in a phone booth on a pyre of wooden magneto boxes and subsets clutching my WE Type 22 in hand and my early 20-B in the other. Other than that I am not worried about what happens to the phones, I imagine they will find there way back into circulation eventually.
I'm hoping someone will buy me this (http://www.creativecoffins.com/wp-admin/images/coffins/coffin_gallery_106.jpg) from here (http://www.creativecoffins.com/coffins/latest/).
<edit> Both links return this message now. But, we can guess! Terry
I believe I'm lucky in this respect. Actually, my dad is lucky because I'm around to keep the collection going. I'm only 23, so my time is a ways off yet, but hopefully 60 or 70 years from now someone other than me will have a respect for old telephones? My 1 1/2 year old daughter loves playing with the old phones(she absolutely LOVES running into the phone booth, shutting the door, and waving at us from inside. Maybe she'll keep on liking them. My fingers are crossed for that. ---Eric
Maybe a bit OT, but I thought I'd share that I drove out to PA in October for the Bill Daniels auction and picked up a few items there, including a nice 233G (my first pay phone) and a beautiful 51AL with a nice #2 dial (my first candlestick). It was awesome just to go and see all of those rare and beautiful phones in person. If I ever were lucky enough to have a collection like his was, I would pass it along in the same way.
Although I thought the buyer's premium was a bit steep (keep in mind I'm used to small country auctions here in the Midwest), I think the auction house did a good job of attracting knowledgeable buyers. I think all of the items fetched decent sale prices (especially considering the state of the economy), but I felt confident that most items ended up with collectors that will carefully preserve them. Granted, you generally don't see things like an 1878 "coffin phone" at Goodwill. ;)
From what I've read and heard, the coordination was a massive collaborative effort between family, members of the phone club who were close friends of Bill, and the auction house.
Apparently his collection was of the highest quality, and very large. There are several others that have large and valuable collections.
Mine is pretty small and ordinary.
Quote from: AE_collector on November 23, 2011, 10:20:35 PM
Doug Rose:
Didn't you start a thread in the past on this topic? 6 to 12 months ago. I can't seem to find it at the moment but undoubtable there will be more good responses in that thread as well.
Someone was telling me fairly recently about a program from one of the European or maybe it was Australia/New Zealand clubs where they did just this sort of thing. They had a program to handle the distribution of collections from deceased (or maybe even downsizing) club members. That seemed like a WIN-WIN-WIN arrangement to me for all concerned parties. Phones went to good homes, the estate got what they were worth rather than garage sale pricing, club memebers got a good shot at adding to their collections at reasonable and fair prices.
I think this would be something that the North American clubs should really consider looking at.
Terry
Hey Terry...not me, but I do remember the post as well....Doug
Quote from: Babybearjs on November 23, 2011, 03:37:30 AM
heres a good question... how does one make sure that their telephone collection stays within these collector groups when he/she passes on.... even though its written in thier will, the family doesnt always follow through... what kind of services does ATCA and TCI have for keeping the phones safe from the thrift stores... or is that a good way to start collecting.... I have several 300 and 400 series phones, all in working order and I don't want them just "thrown out" so to speak when its time... what do you all think??
I would love the opportunity to give my opinion on this topic considering I recently inherited my Dad's collection. First, I would suggest keeping an updated list of your collection with notes about what you know about it. Second, tell your loved ones about your collection, knowledge is key. I found myself second guessing myself and picking things out of the garbage that ended up being valuable (IL Bell papers, pencils and magazines). I cringe at the thought I might have thrown out something valuable. We filled up 2- 30 yard dump trucks.
While my experience is an extreme one, I wish he would have enjoyed what he collected more. I never knew about most of the items because they were hidden away. In my opinion, a collection that is hidden away in the attic or in your basement is just stuff. A collection is something you should enjoy, look at at and be proud of. Show it off! And don't count on your loved one to love it as much as you did but give them the tools to make sure it does not end up in a garage sale for 2 bucks.
Thanks,
Maureen
Quote from: MagicMo on January 03, 2013, 11:20:16 PM
I would love the opportunity to give my opinion on this topic considering I recently inherited my Dad's collection. First, I would suggest keeping an updated list of your collection with notes about what you know about it. Second, tell your loved ones about your collection, knowledge is key. I found myself second guessing myself and picking things out of the garbage that ended up being valuable (IL Bell papers, pencils and magazines). I cringe at the thought I might have thrown out something valuable. We filled up 2- 30 yard dump trucks.
While my experience is an extreme one, I wish he would have enjoyed what he collected more. I never knew about most of the items because they were hidden away. In my opinion, a collection that is hidden away in the attic or in your basement is just stuff. A collection is something you should enjoy, look at at and be proud of. Show it off! And don't count on your loved one to love it as much as you did but give them the tools to make sure it does not end up in a garage sale for 2 bucks.
Thanks,
Maureen
Hi Maureen and others:
Yes, you have an extreme example of this, and to be honest, you must have felt pretty overwhelmed by it at times!
But at least, you are trying to deal with it in the best way you can. Your father almost certainly wanted to pass his collection along to you, but didn't realize how overwhelming it might be. How much easier it would have been had he kept some sort of inventory.
My family will have the same problem when I am gone. I have been trying to get my son to come and spend time in the museum, so he can have an idea of what is there, and the value of the items. He has promised, but still hasn't found the time. Ideas we have passed around are to do a careful photo inventory with written notes to guide him. I have it somewhat done, but he needs to be there while I complete it to make sure he understands how it works. I do hope it gets done - he promises in the spring. Every new phone, I try to make sure he has in his hands, and learns about it.
My hope is that they can continue on with the museum when I am gone, and am working towards that goal. But there will be the odd non-display item they might as well liquidate, and they need to know what those items are.
They are beginning to get a better appreciation of it, I think.
I remember, a couple of years ago, I had a visitor to the museum who had just lost his father, an ex-employee of MT&T. He kept a few really interesting pieces of interest to him, but then hauled 5 dump truck loads of telephones to the dump. He had no idea there was interest in it, and nearly broke down and wept when he saw the collection here, when it dawned on him that is had such value.
So, we as collectors have to make sure our family are aware of what we actually have. In a way, at least my family will be in a bit better shape, as I have had the collection available to the public, and over the years, I hope some of what I have told them of it has stuck!
Yours has been a bit of a baptism in fire, hasn't it! But in the end, your father left what he loved to you, and as you are now appreciating, the value goes far beyond sentimental.
But you are doing it the responsible way, and I am sure your father would be proud of you. I know I would be if I were him. You are educating yourself in what you actually have, and if I can read between the lines a bit, it appears as though you are beginning to enjoy the quest!
Dave
Awwww, Thanks for the kind words DavePEI!
Hugs :)
Maureen
When I die I really don't think I will care and I'm certainly won't worry about it. What ever my kids do with them is fine with me.
When I attend the Southern California phone show earlier this month, there were a couple of ladies selling their late fathers/husbands collections. While they did show sadness when talking about their late fathers/husbands their dispositions and faces lit up when they talked about their loved ones collection items going to new homes. My wife and I connected with one seller, Linda, and we bought many items from her.
This reminds me of the time I had my great-grandfather's uniform from the Spanish American War. It was just sitting in a box in the garage slowly deteriorating. On a local antique store trip I discovered a person that has his personal military museum displayed in his antique store. To make a long story short, I sold it to him because I believed he would cherish it more than I would. It went to good home.......
From a collectors standpoint, I think that's the best we can hope for. We have great pride for these pieces of history we've collected or "saved" as it is in our minds. As long as the stuff I've collected goes to someone(or many someones) who will continue to appreciate it, I'd be happy. The big fear is that it will fall into the hands of someone who doesn't care and it just ends up being thrown out. I'm still young(turned 25 today, actually) but this is still something I think about. We're lucky to have a large amount of really neat telephone stuff, I really hope after a few more decades I'll be able to find a way for it to survive beyond me.
Just this past weekend I met an older(late 60s) railroad collector. He has what he believes to be the largest hand car collection in the US(probably the world). Picture an old cowboy movie where the bad guys are trying to run away on one of those pump powered railroad cars that is just big enough for 2 people to stand on... He has several in his back yard, several in his garage, he even has pedal operated ones that you ride like a bike. He's been collecting and restoring them for probably 40 years and he just recently made the decision to sell them all. He said he has hopes a museum will be interested in them, but he isn't sure.
---Eric
When I do pass on I'm taking my collection with me. I will be buried in my phone booth with my phones and signs.
Quote from: Fabius on April 12, 2014, 08:16:29 PM
When I do pass on I'm taking my collection with me. I will be buried in my phone booth with my phones and signs.
An excellent plan, and an admirable one. For the sake of the pallbearers, I do
so hope that your booth
isn't a GPO K
x type! :o
Best regards! ;)
better make sure you are buried with some change, you may need it to make a call from heaven!
Quote from: Fabius on April 12, 2014, 08:16:29 PM
When I do pass on I'm taking my collection with me. I will be buried in my phone booth with my phones and signs.
I see a problem......I have two full booths....
Terry
What problem, Terry?
If you don't have enough phones to fill the second booth, keep buying! ;D
Quote from: ESalter on November 24, 2011, 05:36:23 PM
I believe I'm lucky in this respect. Actually, my dad is lucky because I'm around to keep the collection going. I'm only 23, so my time is a ways off yet, but hopefully 60 or 70 years from now someone other than me will have a respect for old telephones? My 1 1/2 year old daughter loves playing with the old phones(she absolutely LOVES running into the phone booth, shutting the door, and waving at us from inside. Maybe she'll keep on liking them. My fingers are crossed for that. ---Eric
I know this is an old topic but it's nice to see someone as young as you are into old phones! I myself am 15, I collect phones and repair old radios and electronics. I will certainly be around to care for these phones! :) I hope your daughter does the same!
I just wanted to add to this thread now I've found it.
My personal thoughts are that collectors should try to work with the many excellent museums, both large and small, that are out there. And why wait until you're dead either? As someone said, a collection is at it's best when it's on display. So why not offer your collection on long term or permanent loan to a local museum and take a bit of time you would normally spend tinkering at home to do a bit of tinkering there instead and pass on some of your knowledge to anyone interested who happens to be passing?
From what I've seen, the US seems to be blessed with space which we don't have much of here in the UK. You guys have lots of little roadside museums with really interesting and quirky collections. Maybe some of them would be interested in a telephone display?
At the moment most of my collection is in the loft at home in boxes. But I'd much rather it was out on display somewhere and maybe even being used!
I don't think it's abotu the monetary value at all. How do you value stuff like this anyway? To someone interested a particular phone might be worth quite a bit. But to most people a dial phone that won't work with modern touch-tone services is utterly worthless. Only the otehr day I was talking to a young guy who told me that a couple of years ago at work he was throwing out 20-30 GPO 700 seriese phones every day. They all went in a skip and ended up in landfill! Just months ago I spoke to another guy who told me he had taken a Strowger PAX to the dump a couple of weeks earlier because the charity he ran had moved out of the building and he didn't think anyone would want it! So one man's treasure is definitely another man's trash.
To get a good collection of anything you really need to be a bit visionary and start collecting it before it becomes generally collectable. So you buy at scrap prices, but what it's actual value is (or will be in the future) as an historic object is open to much debate. We all think what we collect is valuable and like to think the next generation will either treasure it or sell it for a vast fortune at a specialist auction. But the sad truth is it's much more likely to not be appreciated for it's true worth unless it is protected in some kind of a museum environment.
I totally agree about keeping up to date records about what you have in your collection. This is basically also how museum accessioning and collections management works. If you follow accessioning guidelines, even if you don't run a museum, it will make your collection much more accessible both now and in the future and you'll be able to keep a far better track on what you have and what might need to find a new home. If you tell your local museum you have a collectiuon of something and you'd like to know how to start an accession register to catalogue it, most will be only too hapy to help you. They might even offer to take care of all or part of your collection at some point in the future for the next generation to enjoy.
Quote from: Fabius on April 12, 2014, 08:16:29 PM
When I do pass on I'm taking my collection with me. I will be buried in my phone booth with my phones and signs.
Fabius: Be certain that your instructions and Sargeguys instructions don't get mixed up with each other. He is going to be set on fire in his booth on top of a pile of all his "firewood" wooden phones that are slowly decreasing in value!
So, this is a good topic with some good suggestions that I notice has been added to several times over the years. I think many families are going to be totally overwhelmed if they wind up with huge quantities of phones when a collector passes away. While it is hard to understand, I can certainly see them all being loaded up and taken somewhere if specific instructions aren't in place or they just can't deal with it at the time. Hopefully at minimum they would not be landfilled or electronic recycling but donated to a charity to sell off getting them back into circulation and providing revenue to the charity.
MagicMo mentioned keeping good lists of everything. That was probably what she wished her father had done so she didn't have to figure out what each item out of hundreds or thousands of things were. This seems like a do-able project for the collector to do providing some help to those in charge of relocating everything. Maybe this sounds good to me because I effectively gave this. Every phone has a number on the base matching an entry in an Excel list with lots of info. At least they can determine what it is this way.
A logical thing to do IMHO is to downsize in later years. I made it a New Years resolution to start moving out a lot of my surplus. I've started listing a bit here on the forum, taking some to a local antique store, listing some on a local Facebook Antiques & Collectibles group and will probably list some on eBay. Just getting started but in a few years I would like to be down to maybe just a couple hundred that are truly my collection. That will be more than enough for family to deal with if and when something happens to me. (I'm 60)
More thoughts on this?
Terry
Quote from: AE_Collector on January 14, 2018, 06:06:15 PM
(Edited down)
A logical thing to do IMHO is to downsize in later years. ....... I would like to be down to maybe just a couple hundred that are truly my collection. That will be more than enough for family to deal with if and when something happens to me. (I'm 60)
I plan to do the same Terry. I have a couple hundred in display in my home. When I get a new phone, one get packed up, usually a common set. So in a year or two I will be selling some surplus phones either online or at a show. I don't want to have a storage problem later.
If something should happen to my wife and I at the same time we placed our collections in our Trust with instructions for my phones to go to a non-profit museum and my wife's collection to non-profit groups.
Everyone keeps telling me "You can't take it with You."
Then I'm not going........
D/P
That sounds like some good planning Russ....and D/P too....great problem solver!
Even some basic instructions left will give those that have to deal with the collection some basic ground rules based on your wants.
Terry
Anyone know of any local Museums to the Portland, Oregon Area?
Quote from: markosjal on August 02, 2022, 04:31:18 AMAnyone know of any local Museums to the Portland, Oregon Area?
Yeah, The RDP Technology Museum of Clackamas County, they moved to East Texas
but will take anything from the 1800's to the mid 1950's.
If your interested I can give you
his I mean their address to ship to.
Its all supported by donations and they'll make sure your acknowledged with a name plate for yours. ;D
I am not ready to pass on my phones while I am alive. I am thinking about when I am gone as this thread suggests.
Quote from: Babybearjs on November 24, 2011, 12:56:18 AMthanks guys! the problem that I have, as some of you might have seen before is family that doesnt care about personal effects after they leave. my dads estate was totally lost to "Stupid" people, my sisters... he had a whole shop of woodworking tools, HO scale trains, various antiques... all lost because no one cared.... to this day I don't know what happend because one of my sisters, who was a druggie, supposedly "lost" my dads effects... wonder how much stuff wound up in the pawn shop???? so, you can see my concern... John
What a shame. With her being a drug addict, I'm sure you know what happened to them. Just hope that whoever bought them off of her knew the value of them.
Mike
Quote from: Phonesrfun on November 24, 2011, 01:45:26 AMWell, that is unfortunate, indeed.
I have heard of that happening and it is really maddening, to say the least. One thing I think happens is that one man's treasures are another's trash. I really understand my hobby, but to some, it's just a collection of old junk. It's too bad that others don't take the time to realize just what is involved.
Of course the other issue is when there is someone who does as you describe and somehow "looses" the inheritance due to less than appropriate acts.
That happens to classic cars a lot too, sometimes even true Classics - upper case - the Japan lovers bring to Pick-N-Pull to be scrapped, no matter how wonderful they are. So, if you are a car lover like me - REAL cars, not Datsuns and Toyotas -
check your local junk yards. You might be surprised at what you see.
Mike