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Not so “RARE” phones, phony items and other such fakery on eBay

Started by Phonesrfun, March 17, 2011, 01:36:48 PM

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twocvbloke

I think they renamed from Esso to Exxon cos I think in Japanese (or whichever eastern place they were expanding into), Esso means something rude... :D

We have Esso stations here, for now... :D

As for the word "Rare" being used so much on ebay, yeah, it happens with the most common items, the amount of the very common and very much not rare ivory coloured GPO 746 phones I've seen with "RARE!!!" attached to the title is just ridiculous, the sheer volume of that colour on the bay shows they're telling porkies to get more bids in... ::)

Babybearjs

speaking of Not so Rare...... whats up with these "Rare" 302's.... the place is floooded with them....and thats not rare....
John

AE_Collector

Yeah just because it is old it isn't neccesarily rare.

Terry

twocvbloke

I think some people think it's rare because to them, it's the only one within three square meters, and thus is absolutely priceless and must be worth loads of money... :D

Then they find nobody buys it at their price, or if they start off low, it sells low, leaving them disappointed and probably out-of-pocket as they themselves may have paid more than it's worth for the item... :D

Occasionally, I like to probe some of the "rare" items, usually asking a question which subversively contains a statement of actual age, rarity and value, which most sellers tend to miss, haven't done it in a while though, there's only so many time that you can laugh at silly answers... :P

Phonesrfun

growing up in Oregon, we had Enco stations which became Exxon in the 60's as I remember.
-Bill G

AE_Collector

By the way. someone put an opening bid of $39.99 on the Esso AE80E and what a surprise, they now own it. I'll stick with my Automatic Electric branded AE80E's that are worth the same as always, $10 on a good day or less if I were selling one!

Terry

Phonesrfun

So, take an old ad from an old 1950's magazine ad and glue it behind a semi-clear AE80E faceplate and put it up on e-Bay as RARE.  Maybe you'll get $15. :)
-Bill G

old_stuff_hound

Quote from: twocvbloke on November 16, 2012, 09:38:11 PM
I think some people think it's rare because to them, it's the only one within three square meters, and thus is absolutely priceless and must be worth loads of money... :D

"But it must be rare -- it's the only one in the whole entire house!"

WesternElectricBen

Look at my post, about the 1964 500 moduler phone. Its over 100 dollars, how is it rare?? This really annoys me.
Ben

AE_Collector

Quote from: AE_Collector on November 16, 2012, 09:55:19 PM
By the way. someone put an opening bid of $39.99 on the Esso AE80E and what a surprise, they now own it. I'll stick with my Automatic Electric branded AE80E's that are worth the same as always, $10 on a good day or less if I were selling one!

Terry

Big surprise that the "Super Rare Esso Phone" doesn't appear to have "really" sold for $39.99 but has remained for sale for months and months now. It is now down to $15 from $39.99 and still looking for a new home.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/121093354069

Any other "Not So Rare Phones on ebaY currently"? This is the place to post them.

Terry

poplar1

Here's a fake that is almost always listed as a genuine Western Electric "102.".

It resembles a Western Electric round base B1B ("102"). Note that there are no markings on the back: there should be "B1" and also something like:

WESTERN ELECTRIC MADE IN USA PAT IN USA SEPT 16 24 PATS APPLIED FOR

Also, the cradle looks crude and the phone is made of a thick bronze-like material rather than steel.

This model is sold by phoneco with a modular, plastic handset. The one listed below actually has an original WE handset and a WE 1950s-1960s 6A dial.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/390524201017

"Vintage Antique Brass ROTARY DIAL MODEL 102 TELEPHONE Bakelite Modernized"




"C'est pas une restauration, c'est une rénovation."--François Martin.

poplar1

Here's one that turns up more often. It has a repro WE candlestick base, new cords, and an old handset. The cradle is a repro resembling the cradles on the Automatic Electric 1A Monophone.  

On the original 1As, the cradles are either pot metal or Bakelite. The bases are usually Bakelite.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/370580865336
"C'est pas une restauration, c'est une rénovation."--François Martin.

poplar1

For comic relief, here is the original Western Electric B1B:

"C'est pas une restauration, c'est une rénovation."--François Martin.

poplar1

Original Automatic Electric 1A Monophone


http://www.ebay.com/itm/140909002873


"C'est pas une restauration, c'est une rénovation."--François Martin.

rdelius

The fake brass set used a cradle off a ATEA   (AE) belgium set .The bases are reproduction  WE candlestick bases. That handset is off a set from Norway. AE types 41 and 38 also were used on these repro sets. Phoneco used larger AE dials and cut them down to fit but reused the newer finger stops that were held on with one screw.Some were built with older AE dials such as types 51a or 24.