My Mom has Done it Again: Ivory 302s!

[WEBellSystemChristian]

Today my Mom sent me an email while I was in school, that she found an Illinois Craigslist listing regarding phones for sale. I quick looked at it, and noticed three ivory 302s in the picture! After school, my parents offered to make a family trip out of it, since it was only an hour away, just over the Illinois border from Wisconsin.

When we got there, I almost ran to the phone shelf, and was pretty suprised to see only two of the three left, since a possible collector (I say that because there was a RedBar in the listing picture, which wasn't there in person) made off with one of them. But, two ivories remained; a manual (with a matching ivory blank) and a dial version. The price tags said $36 each, but my mom negotiated the seller down to $17.50 each (she's really good at this kind of thing)! So, I made off with two ivory 302s for a fraction of what they cost retail, thanks to my mom .

My dad asked the clerk if they often got old phones in.  He replied that it's intermittent, but that these two are all that are left of 18 or 20 old phones that someone dropped off a while ago.  I'll never know, but I'll always wonder what the other phones were--if the "leftovers" were two ivory 302s! 

[Mr. Bones]

WOW!

     Nice score, Christian! Your Mom obviously ROCKS!!!

     Enjoy your new beauties!

Best regards!

[WEBellSystemChristian]

Thanks! She is pretty awesome! I will enjoy these two for as long as I have them (I don't think I'll ever get rid of 'em!).

[LarryInMichigan]

I saw that craigslist posting, but I assumed that the prices would be high.  Do you think that your mom would be interested in adopting me

Larry

[paul-f]

Fantastic!

Looks like Find of the Month material!

[LarryInMichigan]

I believe that this picture was from that craigslist post.  There appears to be an ivory German W48 which would be worth a bit and an AE 1A which would be worth plenty if it is ivory plastic.

Larry

[WEBellSystemChristian]

Do you think that your mom would be interested in adopting me

Larry

Hmm, I think she would be interested. Do you come with a bag a coupons?

[WEBellSystemChristian]

I believe that this picture was from that craigslist post.  There appears to be an ivory German W48 which would be worth a bit and an AE 1A which would be worth plenty if it is ivory plastic.

Larry
Which phone is which? I believe the red bar, ivory 302s, and a few subsets are all that are gone. I believe the rest are still there. I think the white phone on the bottom right was a repro though.

[LarryInMichigan]

I believe that this picture was from that craigslist post.  There appears to be an ivory German W48 which would be worth a bit and an AE 1A which would be worth plenty if it is ivory plastic.

Larry
Which phone is which? I believe the red bar, ivory 302s, and a few subsets are all that are gone. I believe the rest are still there. I think the white phone on the bottom right was a repro though.

The one on the top left looks like a W48 to me.  The SC 119? next to it looks good as well.  It could be that the one on the right of the second shelf from the bottom is a Telcer or some other replica.  I cannot tell from the small picture.  The Danish phone on the middle of the second shelf is worth something, perhaps $40-$60.

I was almost contemplating going out there during my upcoming visit to Chicago, but it is really too far to drive from where I will be.

Larry

[DavePEI]

C"mon, Christian.... You need to share your Mom with all of us! She is pretty spectacular.

Wish my parents has supported my hobby like that when I was young. Instead, they threw out my entire collection, including many old AE and NE phones, several Strowger 10 digits, a bunch of Phillips Electrical Works phones, etc. when I went to College. When I came home for a weekend, they told me they had sent them off to the landfill since they weren't worth anything and they needed the space! When I told them their true value, they just stood there blinking in disbelief. Man, oh Man, had they only known what they were really worth! So went my first very valuable collection! The least they could have done would have been to put them in storage. To them they were just junk (or perhaps more to the point, they were afraid that the telephone police would find them there!) I still haven't forgiven them.

Dave

[WEBellSystemChristian]

Ouch, sorry for your loss Dave . Well, now you have one of the best collections I've ever seen!

[baldopeacock]

Today my Mom sent me an email while I was in school, that she found an Illinois Craigslist listing regarding phones for sale. I quick looked at it, and noticed three ivory 302s in the picture! After school, my parents offered to make a family trip out of it, since it was only an hour away, just over the Illinois border from Wisconsin.

Just curious -- what town in Illinois?   That's home for me and I've looked around northwestern Illinois a fair amount.

[WEBellSystemChristian]

It's in Crystal Lake. It's a little Trading Post building.

[persido]

Wow very nice!!!! your mom ROCKS!!!!

[WesternElectricBen]

I thought my mom was nice when she bought me to the phone show, but your mom BRINGS THE PHONE SHOW TO YOU!

Great find!

Ben