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My Dad's 40 Years with Illinois Bell and his "Collection"

Started by MagicMo, November 18, 2012, 12:20:31 AM

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MagicMo

I recently began going through my fathers collection. He was a bell worker for over 40 years. This is what I found today in his attic. Not even the tip of the iceberg!
Let me know what you think!
Thanks,
Maureen
Practice Kindness :)

MagicMo

A few more pics
Practice Kindness :)

twocvbloke

I would think "Goldmine!!!", and "Jackpot!!!"... :D

Seems you have quite the collection of parts and phones there, I'm sure many here will be after them.... :)

MagicMo

Quote from: twocvbloke on November 18, 2012, 12:31:10 AM
I would think "Goldmine!!!", and "Jackpot!!!"... :D

Seems you have quite the collection of parts and phones there, I'm sure many here will be after them.... :)

I just began looking, I have boxes and boxes of parts and phones. I have a box full of brand new princess phones never taken from their box, tools, tool boxes, tool belts, hard hats, switchboard, bell luggage, testers, early mobile phones etc etc. It's crazy! He didn't get rid of anything. It's all gonna be sold. I just have to haul it all down from the attic. I am guessing about 40 boxes.
Practice Kindness :)

AE_Collector

Any plans yet on how you will go about selling it?

It scares me to think that if I died tomorrow I would leave my wife and children a mess bigger than yours to deal with.

Terry

MagicMo

Quote from: AE_collector on November 18, 2012, 01:02:31 AM
Any plans yet on how you will go about selling it?

It scares me to think that if I died tomorrow I would leave my wife and children a mess bigger than yours to deal with.

Terry

I will have to challenge you on the bigger mess! I have not even come close to going through it all yet. I guess I was a bit overwhelmed (frickin ticked off!!!!!) until I began opening box after box of cool phone stuff. It's like opening up presents. If he had to be a hoarder, I'm glad he collected cool stuff. As far as the selling goes, I would love some phone guy to come to my Dad's home and say SOLD! I'll buy it all!
I guess I will clean up everything and take some nice pics and let everyone have at it on ebay. Any other ideas? I could open up a store with everything I have here! 
Practice Kindness :)

AE_Collector

#6
It probably isn't out of the question to sell it all in one go. First question would be, where is it located?

Obviously you can turn it into more cash by selling it all individually but you might turn it into a career as well.

There is a Classifieds section on this forum but realistically there aren't enough people on here to easily unload tons of stuff. On here I would say a dutch auction where you set a price on each item or group of items and then systematically drop the price by 10% once a week until someone cant resist or isn't willing to risk losing out in order to save another 10% by waiting another week.

Terry

MagicMo

#7
Hello,
Trying to find info on this phone.
Thanks,
Maureen
Practice Kindness :)

twocvbloke

If only I was on that side of the pond, I'd certainly love to dip into the collection for some phones, parts and maybe the odd tool that isn't common over here in blighty... :D

DavePEI

Unfortunately, living so far away,it would be impossible to see what your Dad amassed, but it sounds wonderful.

I would likely be interested in purchasing some of the more interesting tools he had for the museum collection.

Dave
The Telephone Museum of Prince Edward Island:
http://www.islandregister.com/phones/museum.html
Free Admission - Call (902) 651-2762 to arrange a visit!
C*NET 1-651-0001

MagicMo

#10
I have some more phones I cannot find info about when I google it. 2 phones. One clearly marked IL bell Mobile phone, the other marked as a control unit.
Any ideas?
Thanks,
Maureen
Chicago
Practice Kindness :)

MagicMo

Quote from: DavePEI on November 18, 2012, 01:58:08 AM
Unfortunately, living so far away,it would be impossible to see what your Dad amassed, but it sounds wonderful.

I would likely be interested in purchasing some of the more interesting tools he had for the museum collection.

Dave

Hi Dave,
He has TONS  phone related  tools. When I'm ready to sell I will let you know. Here is just a few pics I snapped today. What you can't see is the 4 feet of boxes below the pic with boxes of phone tools. I will take more pics when I go there next week.
Practice Kindness :)

G-Man

Nothing rare...

Typical Motorola Pulsar IMTS.
I'll see if I can find a photo.

G-Man

I should add that your unit is mis-identified. It is a control HEAD and not UNIT!

G-Man

It's been a long time...

they are respectively a control head (handset unit) and a radio (not control unit).

Edit: I forgot to add that these photos are not mine but are from a radio website.