What is this?

[Doug Rose]

Do all these parts from different companies go together? What is its purpose?...thanks...Doug

https://www.ebay.com/itm/323659902113

[rdelius]

This had to be assembled later because W Germany did not exist when Keystone was in business .I think the brass parts were from a clock

[Doug Rose]

thanks Robby...it has been on before, but this time it does have a bid for $175....Doug

[Scott]

The company is a clock manufacturer so maybe it is a home made gizmo and the telephone dial rotates. Just guessing.

Scott K.

[LarryInMichigan]

It looks like this: link is what is supposed to be under the glass.

Larry

[CanadianGuy]

Would those be exchange names? Maybe it was someone's way of displaying an old cordboard operators dial? I wonder if it's rare?

[FABphones]

Good detective work there LarryinM  .  And now I can see all those photos next to each other for comparison (thanks teleplay), to me it looks like something someone has made up to display the dial (which has slipped off its mount). It looks unfinished. Just me, but I don't like it. 

Is that a hard to find dial worth $175+?

[.....]

An early version of steampunk? That could be a candidate for Hideous Telephones!

[TelePlay]

     Regular Member Post

An early version of steampunk? That could be a candidate for Hideous Telephones!

Yes, and yes in my opinion.

Looking at the image Larry provided shows this topic phone is a Steampunk contraption starting with the the base of what once was a phone being turned around so the dial can bit into the notch for the original clock parts - the red circles show notches for the original clock parts. So, what was the front of a clock is now the back of this creation.

The dial is held in place with wire, blue arrows, and the two yellow circles show mounting holes for something that was removed.

The phone part appears to be a 3 wire watch case receiver (usually 2 wire) which is quite old due to the pin connectors shown on the rather thick cloth covered cord attached to a piece of beat up, black scrap wood.

I'd say the only value is the glass dome and matching base and maybe the dial, $20 or so with free shipping.

In that someone is willing and will probably end up paying $175 plus $50 in shipping (quite high in itself) makes that the most curious part of this eBay listing. Then, again, the mounting legs could be pure gold . . .

Note: what's interesting is the bidder on this contraption is also the current high bidder on the Auction Contest 364 red AE telephone. Maybe he sees something there that I don't.

[Key2871]

I think either someone is going to be extremely disappointed.
Or really happy. Why happy? I don't know. Maybe they have the clock missing the glass, so they value the glass highly.
As far as everything else... Don't see any value.

[rdelius]

They might want that Keystone dial.

[TelePlay]

     Regular Member Post

It sold with one bid. The person who bought it knows phones, pays money for other phones that we know are collectible. I would really be interested in knowing why this contraption was worth $225.

[LarryInMichigan]

Good detective work there LarryinM  .

It wasn't actually detective work.  I was looking at clocks for sale, and I noticed that one of them had a familiar look to it, so I quickly went back to this topic to compare.

Larry

[LarryInMichigan]

I would expect that the porcelain Keystone dial center has to be worth something significant.

Larry