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Who was THE MOST AVID ANTIQUE PHONE COLLECTOR THAT MAY HAVE EVER LIVED ?

Started by unbeldi, November 14, 2014, 11:29:24 AM

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unbeldi

This is a truly entertaining auction, worth a few laughs:

Ebay on 2014-11-14: http://www.ebay.com/itm/221604862413

WESTERN ELECTRIC
"MODEL 202 DESK PHONE"


HERE IS A BEAUTIFUL, WORKING EXAMPLE OF ART DECO TECHNOLOGY AT IT'S FINEST.  THIS 1926, BAKELITE DESK PHONE BY THE WESTERN ELECTRIC COMPANY OF CHICAGO COMES READY TO PLUG IN TO YOUR HOME'S MODERN JACK.  IT HAS A STUNNING, ANTIQUE, DOVETAILED, OAK RINGER BOX, THE D1 BODY WITH F1 HANDSET AND COMES WITH A MODULAR CORD.  IT WAS PURCHASED FROM THE ESTATE OF THE MOST AVID ANTIQUE PHONE COLLECTOR THAT MAY HAVE EVER LIVED.  THIS MAN WORKED AS A TELEPHONE REPAIR MAN FOR OVER 60 YEARS AND LITERALLY HAD TENS OF THOUSANDS OF ANTIQUE PHONES AND PARTS.  THIS WAS ONE OF A HANDFUL THAT HE HAD RESTORED TO PERFECT WORKING ORDER.  A GREAT PIECE OF HISTORY AND THE PERFECT ADDITION TO ANY COLLECTION OR SOPHISTICATED OFFICE!


Hmm, I wonder why this telephone man could only restore a handful of phones when he had tens of thousands to choose from, and then he picked sort of a Franken phone, a WECo 202 with an AE dial, and some other third party subset that doesn't appear even period-correct, not that anything does for 1926, as a matter of fact.

If you're a more selective and affluent collector you can spend more here: http://www.ebay.com/itm/221601619504


Russ Kirk

I get a chuckle when I read some auctions written by fanciful writers that don't know what they're writing about. Some people make up all sorts of elaborate lies and stories to make their auction seem valuable. Then they take this "perfect" phone and start the bidding at only $99. Oh well,  at least they didn't use the most overrated and overused word on eBay - RARE.
- Russ Kirk
ATCA & TCI

Contempra

Quote from: Russ Kirk on November 14, 2014, 11:36:58 AM
I get a chuckle when I read some auctions written by fanciful writers that don't know what they're writing about. Some people make up all sorts of elaborate lies and stories to make their auction seem valuable. Then they take this "perfect" phone and start the bidding at only $99. Oh well,  at least they didn't use the most overrated and overused word on eBay - RARE.

I agree..I often read descriptions that do not match the item for sale. Sometimes when we ask more explanations about the item, they know nothing other than what they write. you have a good point Russ.

WEBellSystemChristian

If this came from someone with tens of thousands of phones and phone parts, wouldn't you think he would have an E1 in that stash somewhere? ???
Christian Petterson

"Whether you think you can or think you can't, you're right" -Henry Ford

Phonesrfun

He might also have put a WE dial on it and used an appropriate subset... and Western Electric of Chicago?  They must have gotten that off the dial.
-Bill G

JimH

This brings up a good point.  I've seen many Candlesticks, B1s, and D1s , and 302s that have AE dials on them.  In some cases, were the bodies of WE phones sold to small local companies that put AE dials on them?  If that is the case, this particular phone could represent how a telephone "actually was" when it was installed in someone's home.  I know to me, and to many of us, it seems completely wrong to see that dial on it.  If we corrected every "mistake" of putting an AE dial on a WE phone, I think the history is lost and so is its originality.  Personally, I don't think it looks right, but that is just because of what I am used to.  But then, who knows, this could have been cobbled together parts.
Jim H.

Phonesrfun

Good points, but the idea of a cobbled phone kind of goes hand in hand with the puffed-up description :)
-Bill G

Russ Kirk

Interesting topic.  The comments about cobbled or mixed up phones is also interesting.  Right now I am reading through the "Payphone History" book by Ron Knappen.  I found one thing very clear,  it looks like most payphones are cobbled or mixed up, but not crossing manufacturers. Over time both AE and WE rebuilt and modified the payphones many times for various reasons. No wonder there are so many model numbers and configurations on payphones. 

While I am far from a payphone or phone expert, I do have a appreciation for the as-found condition of many phones, pure or non-pure.  As recently discussed with the NE wood phone with the added dial and now a WE 202 with an AE dial,  many times phones have been, so to speak, cross pollinated,  either by factories or refurbishers (as opposed to the guy in the garage making a frankenphone to sell on eBay).

So,  there are many "pure" phones with matching dates and some "non-pure" phones that are also OK to some people. It is all in the history of the item, and history should not be forgotten or erased.
- Russ Kirk
ATCA & TCI

Matilo Telephones

That is odd! I thought the most avid phone collector was a woman in Switzerland called Rita Zimmermann.

She holds the world record for the biggest telephone collection in the world.

http://www.telefonsammlung.ch/html/weltrekord_.html
Groeten,

Arwin

Check out my telephone website: http://www.matilo.eu/?lang=en

And I am on facebook too: www.facebook.com/matilosvintagetelephones

AE_Collector

One thing to keep in mind is that AE was the inventor of the Automatic System and they marketed their automatic CO equipment to any Telco that would buy it. They also supplied a great assortment of dial kits to convert the in place phones to work with the new automatic CO to keep the total cost of "going automatic" under control. While the giant Bell System likely wouldn't have fooled around with converting phones in the field for automatic operation, the companies that AE was selling to were the independents, not the Bell System for the most part. These small Telcos could have had a wide assortment of telephone sets.

Of course there were many Telcos that standardized on a certain dial likely to be compatible with their CO equipment so many phones could be ordered either equipped with dials from the manufacturer of choice or "less dial" to be equipped as needed in the future. AE in Canada did this a lot. Many of the Provincially owned Telcos had English switching equipment installed soon after WW2 and AE would supply AE telephone sets with GPO type dials in them.

Terry

Russ Kirk

Quote from: Matilo Telephones on November 14, 2014, 03:18:31 PM
That is odd! I thought the most avid phone collector was a woman in Switzerland called Rita Zimmermann.

She holds the world record for the biggest telephone collection in the world.

http://www.telefonsammlung.ch/html/weltrekord_.html

Gee?  Why hasn't she joined this forum?
- Russ Kirk
ATCA & TCI

Russ Kirk

After running her web page through Google translate,  it looks like she collects Novelty telephones.  Who knows, maybe a US collector or one on this forum has more.

From her web page:
In 2010, I scored with 771 phones the Guinness World Record.
Currently I have 994 phones and 68 mobile phones
- Russ Kirk
ATCA & TCI

Contempra

Quote from: Matilo Telephones on November 14, 2014, 03:18:31 PM
That is odd! I thought the most avid phone collector was a woman in Switzerland called Rita Zimmermann.

She holds the world record for the biggest telephone collection in the world.

http://www.telefonsammlung.ch/html/weltrekord_.html

Okay but unfortunately I don't understand this language.. it's a shame!

paul-f

Guinness obviously didn't do much research before awarding this record.

I doubt she'd make it into the top ten when compared with some of the massive collections that have been discussed here and on the club lists over the years.  A few of the more public ones that come quickly to mind:
  There have been several massive collections that have been dispersed through downsizing or estates that should be considered when awarding a record.  Some recent ones include Doc Fellers, Jerry Presti, Bill Daniels, Norm Mulvey, and the granddaddy -- Bob Prosser.

I know a lot more private collectors, who don't want the world to know how many phones they've accumulated.

I'm sure many in this group can suggest more.
Visit: paul-f.com         WE  500  Design_Line

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