Now this is unique, at least to me. I've not seen this variety of novelty/decorative phone before, and starting at a reasonable $9.99 plus $16 shipping.
It's actually quite interesting right down to the phillips head screw holding it together. Everyone should have one . . .
Vintage Dial brass elephant telephone (http://www.ebay.com/itm/Vintage-Dial-brass-elephant-telephone-/171282946153?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item27e1425869)
Looks as though the species is african looking at the ears... ;D
Hey, twocv, African Book Ends now available!
Brass-Antique-Elephant-Phone-Rotary-Tusk-Trunk-Telephone-African-Zoo-Desk (http://www.ebay.com/itm/271442390315)
Buy them both for an average price of $96 to have that unique conversation decoration for your favorite book shelf. . .
(hard to believe sellers don't do a bit of competition research before listing an item - this one listed at $149.pp plus $17 shipping)
I can see the beauty and style in most novelty telephones, but this elephant phone (and the tall brass pedestal phone) has got to be the ugliest factory made phones. Oh well, to each his own......
Now, if one collected elephant related items that might be a different story.
Uh oh, my apologies to anyone here that likes it or owns one.....
Nah, it definitely is ugly, if it didn't say "Made in taiwan" on the base, I would have guessed that it was made in india as they like making ugly brass phones (occasionally branding them as Western Electric, which couldn't be further from the truth!!) in various shapes, sizes and grotesqueness... ;D
I'd hate to be handling that phone if one of the line wires fell off and contacted the metalwork while the line was ringing... :o
I will admit, I own one :o
In my own defense, I did not purchase it. My father on law, who spends a lot of time following his wife around antique stores picked it up for me. He asks at every store about phones and do far thus is the only one he found. He was so excited, I had to get excited also. I tore it apart right away to clean & polish it. Then they went back to Conn. and the elephant phone went into a box still in pieces and sits there today.
There are several entertaining Youtube videos on repairing these beasts. Here's one:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6YDv3LJkANY (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6YDv3LJkANY)
And yet another one surfaces on eBay, for $48.88 bid (BIN $65) plus $21 shipping and, oh, that's where they plug in the handset cord . . .
Vintage-Brass-Elephant-Rotary-Telephone-Heavy (http://www.ebay.com/itm/221408450050)
There has got to be a good joke here about a "trunk line"...
Also, it has speed dialing that never forgets...