Auction 239: Upright Telephone Box with OST Receiver - Ended 11-17-16

[TelePlay]

New forum members are very welcome and encouraged to take a guess. After all, there are no wrong guesses, just one lucky one. No one knows the winning bid on any auction until it ends. However, it is important to get your guess in before someone else grabs your guess.

Listed about 10 hours ago in a 5 day auction with no reserve starting at $60.00 is this interesting and possibly very old and in very good condition, upright turn of the century style telephone with OST receiver. Or, it could be a repro in part or total. Don't know. That alone should make this an interesting contest. I found two similar style phones in the oldphones Top 50 Candlesticks web site, a 1894 - American Electric Telephone Company Kokomo telescoping desk set and a 1898 - Phoenix Electric Telephone Co. rope shaft but no price estimate. For the contest subject phone, the seller provided an array of external photos only but with no photo of the back side. Since being listed, the phone attracted 2 buyers raising the price to $65 but I'm sure there is some upside to that even if this is a repro in all or part. Within the first day of the listing, the phone attracted 2 buyers placing 2 bids driving the price up to $65.00. There is an upside to the current price but the question remains, how much upside. So, how much will this 302 sell for when the auction ends? At least we know this phone will sell and with over 20 watchers added within 10 hours of being listed, this phone is certainly not flying under the radar.

NOTE: we will use a $5 gap rule between guesses again to prevent crowding. As such, keep your guess at least $5 away from prior guesses for this contest.

The seller listed it as an "EARLY RARE ALL WOOD CANDLESTICK TELEPHONE, TRANSMITTER BOX ON WOOD STAND, 1890's" with the item condition as "used" and " - - - " and with the auction listing description saying simply "Early, possibly dating to 1894. There are no markings. Appears to be walnut or mahogany. The varnish/finish is very old and appears shiny in some areas and not in other areas. Otherwise in excellent condition. It has an American Bell long pole receiver with original black and red cloth cord. The wood base has external terminals that the pins connect into. The receiver is not damaged and is in good condition. "

Seller Added the Following Information on Nov-14-16 at 00:28:54 PST:   "The original switch hook is a solid brass steer horn type. It broke in half as you can see from the photo. The switch hook that is on the phone now, is a temporary replacement. The original can be welded together again and put back on the phone."


http://www.ebay.com/itm/252632949652

It's another chance to move up a rung or to get onto the CRPF -> Contest Standings <- list,

     . . . for as twocvbloke said,   ---> "You gotta be in it to win it !!!" "

If you want to see the phones of past Auction Contests, click -> HERE <-


S C O R E B O A R D

$    655.00 - Autonut  ( 2 )
$    775.00 - tallguy58  ( 7 )
$    985.00 - 19and41  ( 6 )
$ 1,001.00 - Kenton K  ( 3 )
$ 1,100.00 - wds  ( 9 )  -> WINNER - Final Selling Price $1,175.00
$ 1,500.00 - Russ Kirk  ( 5 )
$ 1,800.00 - TelePlay  ( 10 )
$ 2,100.00 - Fabius  ( 1 )
$ 3,200.00 - skyrider  ( 8 )
$ 5,000.00 - Jim S.  ( 4 )


Early Morning Auction Status

11-06-16      Listed         $    60.00
11-13-16        3  bids      $    70.00   (  3 bidders )   ( 43 watchers - 4th place )
11-14-16      10  bids      $    95.00   (  5 bidders )   ( 75 watchers - 1st place )
11-15-16      19  bids      $  495.00   (  7 bidders )   ( 79 watchers - 1st place )
11-16-16      19  bids      $  495.00   ( 90 watchers - 1st place )
11-17-16      20  bids      $  610.00   (  8 bidders )   ( 92 watchers - 1st place )  --  $2,500 bid retracted last 11-16-16
11-17-16      18  bids      $  495.00   (  7 bidders )   ( 93 watchers - 1st place )
11-17-16      10 bidders, 29 bids $1,175  Ended at 07:45:31 PST

[Fabius]

Careful on this one. No pictures of the transmitter guts and no pictures of the transmitter "bobbin" nor other close ups of the long pole itself. And also the bottom of the pedestal pictures needed. Not to mention 0 feedback seller.

But someone will bid so I'll say $2100

[TelePlay]

That's the rub. Could sell for $65 or $6,500.

The pedestal does not look right but I have no idea of what this is. At least an OST. I sent a message to the seller asking for photos of the back and insides.

The wood looks like walnut but the box has finger joints. Lot of unknowns here so the range of guesses could be anywhere from $65 to $65 gazillion bucks. Don't know other than it should be an interesting contest.

A pig in a poke or a real deal? Lot of watchers in only 10 hours. Will add images above if seller posts more pictures.

==============

EDIT: seller replied "yes will do please check back tomorrow"

[.....]

How about $655.00

[Kenton K]

How about $1001

[Jim Stettler]

$5,000 if it is real.

I question if it is "real". I started a discussion thread on it.

It does show well tho.
JMO,
Jim S.

[TelePlay]

I question if it is "real". I started a discussion thread on it.

Jim S.

Thanks to Jim S, for doing this. A very good idea to keep this kind of discussion out of the contest topic.

Still waiting for the seller to post photos of the inside. Those will tell a lot about this item.

The comments and analysis of this item can be found in the newly created discussion topic at:

http://www.classicrotaryphones.com/forum/index.php?topic=17101.0

Guesses are still made here.

[wds]

A few pictures from the Seller.  Nice, but looks homemade to me.

[Russ Kirk]

$1500

[19and41]

$985.00 Please.

[tallguy58]

$775

[skyrider]

3200. Thanks

[wds]

$1100

[TelePlay]

$1,800.00

[TelePlay]

The winner of Auction Contest #239 is wds, who with the 9th entry into the contest offered the winning guess of $1,100.00 and giving him his 12th auction contest win. So, once again, our congratulations go out to wds for another win in the CRPF Auction Contests and for moving up one rung in the Contest Standings.

Unlike #238, the end of this auction was fun to watch. Starting about 15 minutes before end time, the price started to increase from $495 to $670 at the 5 minute to go point. Within the last minute, it rose to $820 with 5 seconds to go. As I watched the auction end, went to 0, the bid stood at $820. Started to open screens to do the update and when I went back into the eBay bid history, noticed the selling price was not $820 but it was in fact $1,175. The phone was won by a***o ( 169 ) who took the phone home for $1,175 by placing a very high bid 15 minutes before end time. It was a tenth of a second snipe, registered in the bid history as the exact same time the auction ended, that bumped the selling price up from $820 to $1,175, making the seller a bit more happy, I'm would guess. The auction saw 10 bidders placing 29 bids.

Check out the updated Contest Standings to see who's who through 239 contests and the latest additions to the CRPF Hall of Fame

Thanks again to all who played. As always, there is only one way to get on the winner's board or move up a rung - you have to play to win.