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Cast Iron Gray Dollar Paystation and stuff?

Started by kleenax, October 31, 2011, 12:15:59 PM

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kleenax

I have noticed that there are a lot of non-club members here as well as members, so I want to share what I deem my "greatest find" (so far) in my lifetime.

It was 2008, and I got a call from a woman that was asking if I was still looking for old phones, as she had picked up my "Wanted - Old Telephones" about 5 years ago and had some old phone stuff of her grandfather's that she was looking to sell.

When I asked her to give me a general description of what she had, she mentioned a few "black" phones (302s I suspected) and also the "base" of an old cast iron payphone. She went on to say that the top was missing, but that the bottom, where you put the coins (??!!) was still there, and it took SILVER DOLLARS! YIKES!

Lots of things are running through my head, but really; a CAST IRON SILVER DOLLAR Payphone?????

Since she was readying the house of the deceased grandfather for a large Estate Sale, she said that I was welcome to come look and see if the phone stuff was anything that I might be interested in! She was allowing me to be the VERY FIRST person into this house before anyone else! I couldn't believe it!

She really caught me at a bad time though; I only had $319.00 in my savings acct, and she wanted cash.....Crap!  I took the cash out and drove as fast as I could the 65 miles over to where the Estate sale was to take place. As a bit of quirky irony, I remembered that I had an additional $65.00 in my PayPal acct, so I decided to stop at an ATM and get it out after I arrived in Flint, the town where she lived.

Well, the ATM that I found was in a strip-mall bank, and as I was walking back to my truck with my $60 cash (increments of $10:(  , a man came walking towards the bank with his hands FULL of rolled-up coins........and ALL of those coins were either Eisenhower Silver Dollars and fifty-cent pieces! Talk about an omen! ;-)  He was very happy to sell me as many as I wanted for face-value, but alas, I only bought 1 roll of each since I didn't know what I would find at the estate sale.

Ok, enough prattling; photos attached below. The 1st photo shows the tailgate of my truck, and the "booty" that I brought home. The nice woman even came running out as I was loading up and GAVE me a shoebox that had one of those metal buttsets in it with a MINT 2AA dial mounted, and an unused Bell first aid kit!  Oh, I also have step-by-step tear-down photos of Gene Doom and I taking the Gray apart for restoration.

Yes, I spent ALL of the money that I took with me (including all of the coins but 2), but that Gray went home with me, along with a HUGE Lionel train set (in the original box), and lots of other stuff!  :-)

The restored "Mr. Gray" has been all over the USA and Canada, winning "Best of Show" at the 2008 North-of-the-border Show in Toronto, and to the CT Show, the Michigan show, and to the San Jose show too ;-)

Ray Kotke
Recumbent Casting, LLC

Phonesrfun

Ray:

I am one of the club members that saw your original posts on the listserves when you first got it.  What a deal!!

Thanks for re-posting this.  While some of us are pea green with envy, this is also a great example for other new comers to the hobby so see some of the unique variations of telephones that existed early on and are so rare that nobody ever sees them.

Great post.
-Bill G

teka-bb


Hello Ray,

Having seen (and touched) the actual phone I think it's a real beauty with a great story.
=============================================
Regards,

Remco, JKL Museum of Telephony Curator

JKL Museum of Telephony: http://jklmuseum.com/
=============================================
TCI Library: http://www.telephonecollectors.info/
=============================================

kleenax

Quote from: Phonesrfun on October 31, 2011, 01:08:17 PM
Ray:

I am one of the club members that saw your original posts on the listserves when you first got it.  What a deal!!

Thanks for re-posting this.  While some of us are pea green with envy, this is also a great example for other new comers to the hobby so see some of the unique variations of telephones that existed early on and are so rare that nobody ever sees them.

Great post.

Thanks Bill; I fully agree!  That was the primary reason that I posted it again, here on Rotary phones.
Ray Kotke
Recumbent Casting, LLC

kleenax

Quote from: teka-bb on October 31, 2011, 05:47:02 PM

Hello Ray,

Having seen (and touched) the actual phone I think it's a real beauty with a great story.


Hey Remco!

Thanks  ;)  And now you know the rest of the story!  ;D
Ray Kotke
Recumbent Casting, LLC

GG



Holy cow!  The only pictures I've ever seen of one of those were some indistinct black & white photos reproduced in one of the Knappens' books. 

What were the coin signals?  Did they start out with one ding for a nickel, two for a dime, and a dong for a quarter, or something else?  Was there an extra transmitter element located on the coin chute to pick up the sounds?

Agreed, that's a lifetime find.  I can't imagine more than a small handful of those still exist. 

Doug Rose

Here is another one on eBay. Simply a beautiful piece. Seller says he is in the ATCA. It is stunning, but out of my price range....Doug

http://tinyurl.com/8ywrsbl
Kidphone

Dan

Great story. I could feel your adhenaline rush. Reminded me of when I got my blue mushroom, but yours is more spectacular....
"Imagine how weird telephones would look if our ears weren't so close to our mouths." - Steven Wright

Nilsog

Is this the same Gray that competed with Bell over the invention of the telephone?
Ken

Wallphone

Elisha Gray was AGB's competitor and William Gray was the payphone guy. The payphone company didn't really take off until after William was dead. I remember reading somewhere that William Gray also invented the baseball catchers chest protector. Kinda strange that the chest protector was invented before the mask.
Doug Pav