A unique 1977 GPO Trimphone

[andy1702]

I wonder if it would be worthwhile faking them?  'Normal' people aren't going to know how rare a particular model is — they probably only want an old telephone that they like the look of.  Collectors who appreciate the rarity would be more likely to spot a fake and ask about it's origin.

The only reason I can think of to do it would be the hope of appealing to collectors of royal memorabilia as well as those of telephones.

Duffy's 'phone was found in Canada so that probably explains the line cord being changed; I wouldn't fancy trying to get an RJ11 onto the original.  At least silver goes with the Silver Jubilee, which may be why it was chosen.

As for the repro parts, a lot of the ones I've seen on sale for 746s are actually for 8746s: several small holes in earpieces instead of one big one and a fine mesh across the vent holes in back of the main body.

If it means somebody will pay $300 for a piulse dialling push-button trim, then they definitely ARE worth faking!    They would be taking an ordinary trimphone and making it worth 30 times what it was before! Remember, these plastic era phones are not worth much at all really. When you see them listed places like E-bay for between £50 - £100 what you are actually paying for is an engineer's time to restore one, service it and convert it where necessary, so it can be sold to the less technically minded as a nice fully working phone. I sell a few myself through my local antiques centre, but they are always genuine phones and always restored to as near original as possible. Not everyone is that honest though, which is why the owner of the centre told me the other day another dealer had sold a really nice bright green trimphone for £9. Turns out it was one of those modern Wild and wolf things, so I explained the £9 'bargain' was probably about £8.50 more than it was worth! 

[ThePillenwerfer]

I once tried, and failed, to convince the proprietor of the one of the centres that you deal from that a red, boxed 741 he'd got was a repro.  As far as he was concerned the fact it said "Classic 1970s GPO 746 [sic]" on the box was indisputable proof.  The box also having a bar-code and web-address seemed to pass him by.  He wasn't being deliberately dis-honest, just ignorant.

As for the Wild and Wolf selling for £8.50 more than it was worth, isn't 50p a bit much for a second-hand plug? 

[andy1702]

LOL! Yep, unfortunately I can well imagine that happening in an antique centre. Someone took in a candlestick for me to fix a few weeks ago, saying it didn't ring! I explained to them on the phone that candlesticks don't ring, then I had the thought it could well be a modern repro that should ring. So I shut up and went to pick it up. Turns out it WAS a BT sanctioned repro from the special range they did in the early 80's. Although the phone was plastic, they had got one small detail correct. They still built it without a ringer! 

[.....]

As far as this phone goes, I tend to believe what the well known UK phone collector Andy Grant has to say. He has seen pictures of my phone and it has all the marking of the original prototypes / samples inside and out. Andy Grant has written an article on the Trimphone in the THG Journal. He is very knowledgeable on these UK phones.

As for the line cord, someone wired a Silver Canadian Modular Telephone Cable to it before I bought it.

There is no reason over on this side of the pond to fake this phone. That would mean faking the dates on the internal parts as well.

There will always be doubters and I can see that you are one of them Andy1702. I guess until you hold it in your hand you will always be a doubter. Perhaps I should post all the pictures of it inside and out, just so you can verify it is what it is.

But then again I could fake the pictures, just saying.

[andy1702]

As far as this phone goes, I tend to believe what the well known UK phone collector Andy Grant has to say. He has seen pictures of my phone and it has all the marking of the original prototypes / samples inside and out. Andy Grant has written an article on the Trimphone in the THG Journal. He is very knowledgeable on these UK phones.

As for the line cord, someone wired a Silver Canadian Modular Telephone Cable to it before I bought it.

There is no reason over on this side of the pond to fake this phone. That would mean faking the dates on the internal parts as well.

There will always be doubters and I can see that you are one of them Andy1702. I guess until you hold it in your hand you will always be a doubter. Perhaps I should post all the pictures of it inside and out, just so you can verify it is what it is.

But then again I could fake the pictures, just saying.

You're quite entitled to believe whatever you want. I just want to point out 4 things.

1. A normal trimphone is worth no more that about $15.

2. The internet is a terrible place for one person's opinion becoming becoming fact. Anyone can say anything, but where is the written or photographic evidence from the time.

3. I've see LOTS of these Jubilee trimphones, as have some of the other people who posted on the THG facebook page.

4. I am in the UK and until this thread started I had never even heard of Andy Grant!

That's all.

[.....]

You're quite entitled to believe whatever you want. I just want to point out 4 things.

1. A normal trimphone is worth no more that about $15.

Fair enough, I have no idea what they are worth as I don't normally collect UK Phones.

2. The internet is a terrible place for one person's opinion becoming becoming fact. Anyone can say anything, but where is the written or photographic evidence from the time.

Yes it is. I have the phone and have taken all the pictures that were needed to show that it is what it is. I have contacted other collectors in the UK to verify what it is and they have no reason to tell me any different other then what it really is.

3. I've see LOTS of these Jubilee trimphones, as have some of the other people who posted on the THG facebook page.

A page where Andy Grant is a member and posts regularly. I'm on there as well.

4. I am in the UK and until this thread started I had never even heard of Andy Grant!

See question number 3.

I guess what I would like to see here is help not doubt, you being in the UK would have more excess to help a fellow member of the forum. Threads like this start out with good intentions, then become a little off because of differences of opinion. This forum is for everyone to enjoy. When other members read what is going on it may just discourage them from posting in fear of being put down because someone else disagrees with what they have posted. Again it's all about help, not doubt.

All is good and I will continue to believe it is the real deal and show it in my collection with pride.
Thanks for your input

[ThePillenwerfer]

I'd agree that it most likely is what is purports to be for the reasons I gave a few posts ago, ie that faking them would be a lot of trouble (parts needing to be made in non-standard colours) and there not being many potential buyers.

Providing you are happy with it, that's all that matters at the end of the day.

[.....]

I'd agree that it most likely is what is purports to be for the reasons I gave a few posts ago, ie that faking them would be a lot of trouble (parts needing to be made in non-standard colours) and there not being many potential buyers.

Providing you are happy with it, that's all that matters at the end of the day.

Thanks and yes I am very happy with it. As for fakes, knock offs or repoductions I'm sure the UK collecting community would have it posted and what to look for if there were fakes out there. I haven't seen any of that in my search for information.

[andy1702]

prices are a little subjective depending on how much you want something. However I've boght a lot of phones from this era, trimphones, 706, 746, 711, 741, 710 etc. I never bother about them being tested working or having a line cord. I do try to make sure they are otherwise complete though. My basic rule of thumb is a phone should be somewbere around the £10 mark, unless it is something exceptionally special. Take a look on Ebay and you will find plenty of UK phones of this era for about a tenner. Yes you will find people trying to sell them for far more than that too, but those phones have usually been carefully restored and it is that engineer's time and expertise you are paying for, not the physical phone itself.