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Before there was eBay

Started by Doug Rose, December 30, 2009, 01:42:41 PM

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Doug Rose

Is there anyone out there who collected telephones before eBay became the worlds largest Antique store? When I first started collecting you met someone at a yard sale, whose brother in law worked for the phone company and off it went. Some of those wild goose chases turned into gold, some not so good. I still find the best deals at local flea markets and even Craig's list. eBay has virtually shut down the small antiques stores, but there are still some out there where a good deal is to be found.  My wife found my A1 at a small Antique store in New Hamshire for the price of a D1 a few years ago. Keep digging, they are still out there.....Kidphone
Kidphone

Jester

#1
So very true.  I used to have a circuit I traveled--certain flea markets & antique stores I routinely haunted nearly every weekend.  I even hooked up with a couple retired phone technicians, & we'd travel an hour away from town for the day, just visiting flea markets & yard sales to hunt old phones.  At my organized best, I would carry a fistful of Polaroids with me to demonstrate to those I asked what I meant by "old dial telephones".  What was really fun, I was a common enough site that most dealers called me "the phone guy", and many would start stashing things for me to pick through when I came by.  
Stephen

AET

I just go to the local ones and the Columbus antique mall about a half hour from here, which is the biggest one in the state.  You guys sure do travel though.  My car has never been farther than about 20 miles from my house.  I hate to drive and don't travel much unless someone else is driving.  Mind you, my dad hates to drive as well, so we don't go far.
- Tom

bwanna

i have yet to purchase a phone from ebay. to me, more than 1/2the fun of collecting is the hunt ;) i love to peruse antique shops, flea markets, yard/estate sales. then when i do find something, there is usually a story behind it. :)
i have many collections, so my house is like the scrapbook of my life ::)

tom...do you like to fly ???, is there an airport within 20miles of your house ::)
donna

AET

I've never flown, I've never been farther than probly 100 miles from home. 
- Tom

benhutcherson

I have only a few Ebay finds-most of mine are local finds also.

I too am known as "the phone guy" at the local shops. One or two are good about calling me when something comes in.

I have a circuit I regularly hit, too. Some shops are more frequent than others, but all told I regularly visit about 20 different shops within a 50 mile radius(as the crow flies) of here.

I also hit a few shops when I'm traveling. A few of them I've managed to develop relationships with, too, and they keep me on top of things. One shop outside of Pigeon Forge, Tennessee e-mails me pretty frequently. Another shop in North Carolina also e-mails me occasionally.

Ellen

Quote from: AtomicEraTom on December 30, 2009, 02:41:04 PM
I've never flown, I've never been farther than probly 100 miles from home. 

Time to get moving, Tom!  See the world.  Or at least more of your own state.  Call home now and again. 

Tonyrotary

Pretty much most of my phones have been off of ebay. Why? I live in Hawaii and not too much a selection here like the mainland. But I grew up in Chicago, and my Uncle had at least ten 554's he got from people he knew that worked for Ma Bell.

bingster

Geez, before ebay, my phone collecting was a very tedious experience.  I rarely found anything of interest at yard sales, though occasionally, I'd find something in an antique store or thrift store.  The lack of anything interesting (and not knowing collectors' organizations even existed) finally cooled me on the hobby.  That lasted for about fifteen years, and I didn't pick it up again until I discovered the telephone smorgasbord on ebay.
= DARRIN =



McHeath

I didn't collect before this forum got going but I do recall that I just rarely ever saw a rotary phone in the last decade at the local sources.  For me E-Bay is where I find most of my phones, which sadly means shipping costs added in.

stub

Kidphone ,
               Most of my phones came from e-bay also.  I got a kellogg candlestick lamp from my great aunt. I got parts from e-bay to restore it and sub. set.  The phones I like are not found here. I'm in the middle of South Central Bell .   stub
Kenneth Stubblefield

Greg G.

#11
I started collecting after ebay had long since been established, but the majority of my phones have been from Craigslist.  I see a lot of phones on ebay for a good price, but I balk when the shipping cost doubles or triples the total price, I just won't do it.
The idea that a four-year degree is the only path to worthwhile knowledge is insane.
- Mike Row
e

Phonesrfun

Hey, while in Portland this week of my vacation, I have been checking Craigs List each day.  Looks like I chose a bad week.  Not much there.

-Bill
-Bill G

HobieSport

#13
Like Heath, I didn't collect until I caught the bug from this forum, a little more than a year ago. I've gotten all of my phones on Ebay. I did go to the thrift stores and antique stores in my area (north calif coast) and ask about old phones, and I pretty much just got blank stares, like "who would be crazy enough to be interested in old dial phones". Well, me, I guess. With one antique store owner, when I asked if they had any "old telephones" they actually said "Do you mean like old early model cell phones?" Wince. Sigh.

I'm not buying telephones anymore, simply because I already have way too many, but if I was looking for phones other than on Ebay, I think what I might do is set up an automatic search on Craigslist (though I don't know how that is done) and I would tell all my friends and relations what kinds of phones that I would be looking for, plus I think I would write and print up a form letter about my telephone interests, with photos of phones, and give the letters to the people in all the local thrift shops and antique stores. Maybe even bring in an old phone or two as examples to show them what I'm asking about. Just some ideas.

I'm off topic here, but Tom, I'm surprised that you and your Dad don't like to drive. Somehow I had imagined you cruising with your gal on Main Street USA, like in "American Graffiti", and I imagined your Dad cruising around on a Harley. Well, that's what I get for having an imagination. But I do respect that you don't like to drive. I don't mind driving, but I'd really rather not, and I actually don't drive or have a car/truck anymore. I work at home now and it's a half mile walk to town to go grocery shopping and do other regular business. Plus, once I started walking instead of driving, I've gotten better exercise, and met more of the good folks in my neighborhood during my walks, and had some good friendly neighborly chats, you know, like in the old days before there were cars. I don't dislike cars, but I think they can be overused sometimes, and I can say that our little touristy yet pleasantly home-towny area here would feel a lot nicer and be much safer without so many cars and trucks around. Of course I understand the need for cars and trucks, but many of the tourists and us locals simply drive too fast.

As for flying, sure I've flown, when necessary, in big standard jet liners, and found the experience very fun and exiting, with a subtle hint of awe and dread. I'd love to go up in a small plane and cruise over our area, but I think I'd want a pilot like Dennis Markham as a friendly capable pilot for me to feel more at ease in an adventure like that.

My favorite form of long distance travel is trains. Or even better; canal boats. :)
-Matt

AET

Oh, i cruse around town plenty, I've had a few cruisers, and now just cruise in the ol' Station Wagon.  But I don't like to drive far.  Dad put that fear in me.  Every time I go to leave somewhere he starts shouting that my car may not make it and a tow is expensive, yadda yadda yadda.
- Tom