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Felt based 202

Started by Sargeguy, December 29, 2008, 10:27:59 PM

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benhutcherson

#30
I've had the best luck at indoor antique malls and places of that nature. Basically, the sort of place where vendors rent booth space in a larger building and price their items, then let the mall owners/employees handle the actual money changing. Generally, the individual vendors aren't physically present, so haggling isn't really possible.

We have a bunch of those sort of places around here, taking the form of both old downtown store buildings, and also often occupying old Walmart buildings and the like. Here are the websites of a couple of the local ones, to give you an idea of what I'm talking about

http://www.buypeddlersmall.com/ (chain)
http://oldbridgeportschool.com/
http://www.georgetownkyantiquemall.com/ (where I found the 302 today)

The vast majority of my telephones have come from these sort of places. If you're willing to be patient and do a little bit of hunting, you can often find prices similar to or better than Ebay, and don't have to pay shipping.

I should also add that there's one decent sized local store which isn't a mall, but in which the owner owns everything  for sale. This particular shop does a big business Lionel trains, which I also collect/accumulate, and because of that, I've spent a lot of time there over the years. The owner, though, is a retired "telephone man" and thus also deals some in telephones. His prices are typically fair-no real bargains to be had, although he is honest about them. Both of my candlesticks have come from him, and I've picked up one or two 302s from him also. If and when I get around to buying a wooden wall phone, I'll probably go to him.


trainman

fabric store felt is not the same as woven wool felt. Think pool table felt.