What is your personal find of 2015?

[Matilo Telephones]

Apart from the competition for the find of the year, what is your personal telephone find of 2015?

Personally I had a brilliant year, telephone wise. Loads of new stuff, learned a lot, and "met" a lot of nice people.

But this is my personal find of this year, a red Siemens & Halske Fg Tist 282 from 1959. I have been looking for this one for ages and it was almost at the top of my wish list.
Totally original and complete, except for a rubber foam gasket between the dial and housing. Looks very good after I gave it a thorough much neede polish.

What was your find?

[Doug Rose]

Arwin....nice idea. I found this Pristine WE B1 102 in like new condition. Very minor marks on the cradle, perfect cords. Correct seamless E1 with seamless caps. Great dial card.  Dated 3 29, just amazing condition for a 85 year old phone.....Doug

[WEBellSystemChristian]

My personal find of the year was my Rose Beige 500 that I picked up off Craigslist over Summer. I was so excited to get it and restore it, and now it sits proudly in my collection!

http://www.classicrotaryphones.com/forum/index.php?topic=14609

[Dan/Panther]

Not an entire phone, but part of one I've been looking for, for about 8 years.
I won it on eBay for $70.00. It needed some work, but here it is finished.

D/P

[Dave F]

Without hesitation I would have to say my NOS pink 661A1 Card Dialer is not only my best personal find of 2015, but possibly the best of the last several years.

DF

[Phonesrfun]

Wow, Dave and Dan, those are absolute beauties.

[Fabius]

I was lucky enough to be able to buy from a Detroit pawn shop via ebay a bronze Vail Medal awarded in 1966 to a Michigan Bell employee for saving the life of a man drowning. While getting this tough to find medal was great I really enjoyed the research on the recipient.

The Vail Medal. The Vail Medal was created in 1920 in memory of Theodore N. Vail (President of the American Telephone and Telegraph Company from 1907 to 1919) to perpetuate his ideals of service to the public. The medal, which bears his likeness, was awarded to individuals for noteworthy acts reflecting the Bell System's highest traditions of loyalty and devotion to duty.

The Vail Medal is still awarded today by AT&T and the former Bell companies such as Verizon.

[Babybearjs]

I would have to say that my PBX CO Alarm chassis is my best find of the year. I haven't really been looking for anything great this year, but I did find this.... now, for 2016.... the parts for this monster!

[andre_janew]

I would have to say a black 1964 WE 500 dated February 1964 with all original parts for $10.50 plus $12.00 shipping.  I ordered it before Christmas and it was delivered on December 28, 2015.  I would've entered it into the December 2015 FOTM, but I was having computer trouble and didn't get it fixed until recently.  The trouble was with a computer lock that shouldn't have been there in the first place!

Here is the link for the phone:

http://www.ebay.com/itm/231785113760

[Dan/Panther]

Dave F;
If you are still looking for dial cards, couldn't you make some blanks out of card stock, punch all the holes out of an original, lay it on top, mark the holes you need for a specific number, then use the one you punched all the holes out of for making other dial cards. You could even print the original on cardstock then use a hole punch to punch out the numbers.


D/P

[AE_Collector]

January 2016 Find of the Month is open now Andre. Not a problem at all to enter your latest acquisition for January.

Terry

I would have to say a black 1964 WE 500 dated February 1964 with all original parts for $10.50 plus $12.00 shipping.  I ordered it before Christmas and it was delivered on December 28, 2015.  I would've entered it into the December 2015 FOTM, but I was having computer trouble and didn't get it fixed until recently.  The trouble was with a computer lock that shouldn't have been there in the first place!

Here is the link for the phone:

http://www.ebay.com/itm/231785113760

[Dave F]

Dave F;
If you are still looking for dial cards, couldn't you make some blanks out of card stock, punch all the holes out of an original, lay it on top, mark the holes you need for a specific number, then use the one you punched all the holes out of for making other dial cards. You could even print the original on cardstock then use a hole punch to punch out the numbers.


D/P

D/P,

Cards for standard Card Dialers are not too difficult to find, so there is no need to manufacture them.  The cards used in the AUTOVON sets are another matter entirely.  Because the AUTOVON dial has an extra column of characters (FO,F,I,P), the cards are wider and have an extra row of holes to allow coding of all 16 frequency combinations.  As far as I am able to determine, nobody has yet found any genuine W.E. AUTOVON cards.  Working specimens have been manufactured by cutting up and gluing together parts of two standard cards.  I have made working surrogate AUTOVON cards this way, but, as a collector, I won't be satisfied until I score some of the real ones.  The real question is whether or not I will live long enough to see that happen!

DF

[HarrySmith]

You are not the only one looking for those cards! IIRC there are at least 2 other collectors looking for them. I have some NOS cards for the regular dialer and I don't even have the phone yet!

BTW- if anyone has a card dialer in Black, I may be interested!
I want to get rotary, 10 and 12 button models eventually!

[Dave F]

You are not the only one looking for those cards! IIRC there are at least 2 other collectors looking for them. I have some NOS cards for the regular dialer and I don't even have the phone yet!

BTW- if anyone has a card dialer in Black, I may be interested!
I want to get rotary, 10 and 12 button models eventually!

Harry,

Black, surprisingly, is one of the more difficult colors to find in a Card Dialer.  Back in the old days, here in So. Cal. the extra monthly charge for a Card Dialer included choice of color.  I guess most people who rented them opted for their favorite color -- usually not black.  Searching for all three dial styles in black will keep you busy for a while!

DF

[.....]

One of my finds of 2015 was the 1953 Northern Electric 302 with matching numbers.

Doug