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Salvaged from Titanic! eBay Auction

Started by ....., December 13, 2018, 07:22:18 AM

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.....

I wonder who they think they are fooling?

https://www.ebay.com/itm/153298556617


Payphone sign - seems to be solid brass.  Thick and heavy.  I got this from a long time telephone collector - says it came from the USS Titanic, but there is no documentation.  It measures 9" x 1"

Ask if you have any questions, and thanks for looking!


HarrySmith

#1
First of all it was not the USS Titanic. It was not an American ship, it was British and was called RMS Titanic. I doubt there were any payphones on the ship also.
Harry Smith
ATCA 4434
TCI

"There is no try,
there is only
do or do not"

twocvbloke

Looks like one of them cheaply made brass signs you can pick up in a gift shop...  ;D

FABphones

#3
I have many many books about the Titanic. I have read them all several times. At no point can I recall any stories of passengers or crew rushing to the phone to make a call saying the ship was in trouble... Oh, that's because there weren't any.

Mr Marconi's device was an innovation and the only way to send and receive messages on the ship.

I really hope no one falls for that twaddle.

Below: Historic photograph of the Marconi Room, the operating room of Titanic's Marconi Wireless System.

'The Marconi Wireless was a radiotelegraph system that was growing into wider use on transatlantic ship voyages; it enabled ships, trains, and other mobile craft to communicate while in motion without the network of cables and poles, which were required for telegraph or telephone service'.
A collector of  'Monochrome Phones with Sepia Tones'   ...and a Duck!
***********
Vintage Phones - 10% man made, 90% Tribble
*************

Bob S

Glad I read these forums Hs has a bid on it. I bought a Western electric Brass candlestick when I first started collecting. I bought it on eBay for 100.00 I was one happy camper. Until I started reading these forums. I relisted the phone as a fake and pointed out why it was and sold it to a person in Australia. Knowledge is Power

Doug Rose

This auction is from a well respected Forum member....Doug
Kidphone

RotarDad

Incorrect "USS" tells the whole story, and seller just states the the tag is there with no documentation.  Whoever added the tag probably meant it as a joke due to the aged, oxidized look of the sign.  May still have value as an original brass sign, but could be a 10-year old reproduction too.

I would have to believe that all true Titannic artifacts are well-documented.  The retrieval costs are extremely high, and such items would lose significant value without their provenance. 
Paul

Dan/Panther

#7
Like FABphones says, The RMS Titanic used Marconi wireless to send communications ship to shore.
No Telephones.
I also Collect Titanic books and curios. A VERY fascinating subject. Don't read the book "A Night To Remember", you will be hooked.
I had the honor to attend the 25th anniversary, September 1988, Boston, Mass., of the "Titanic Historical Society" founding.  Walter Lord was suppose to attend but he was very ill at the time, and passed shortly there after. I did however get to meet 4 of the original survivors, and video taped each ones story as they told it.
The Titanic was a British registered ship, but American Owned by International Mercantile Marine, owned by JP Morgan. A little side curiosity, up to the time of the sinking the Titanic the I.M.M. Company was a failure, the insurance from the Titanic, bailed JP Morgan out  ??? You do the math.  J.P. Morgan was also scheduled to sail on the Titanic's Maiden voyage, BUT AT THE LAST MINUTE HE CANCELLED.  After you do the math add that little tid-bit.

D/P

The More People I meet, The More I Love, and MISS My Dog.  Dan Robinson

twocvbloke

I used to live in the town where Bandmaster Wallace Hartley was born, infact, the house he lived in was a few minutes walk away from me at the time, there's a permanent memorial set up up the road from the house to the sinking of the Titanic and a bust of Hartley alongside it... :)

http://lancashirecam.blogspot.com/2014/02/colne-wallace-hartley_13.html

TelePlay

     Regular Member Post

For comparison, this life jacket locker key sold in 2016 at auction £85,000, about $107,000 US using today's conversion rates.

The BBC News story said:  The locker key had belonged to third-class steward Sidney Sedunary, from Berkshire, who perished when the Titanic went down in April 1912, after hitting an iceberg.

Mr Aldridge said: "Without a doubt [he saved lives]. Here's a man who sacrificed his life to save others."


Story did not say how the key was found or recovered. Took 70 years to find it after it sank in cold water which retards rusting.

Provenance is important and a paper tag alone is suspicious.

Jim Stettler

My guess is it is a yard sale find and the tag came with it. 
It is as authentic as the Hitler Bunker phone.
http://www.classicrotaryphones.com/forum/index.php?topic=17591.msg181759#msg181759

JMO,
Jim S.
You live, You learn,
You die, you forget it all.