Kellogg 1000 Redbar

[Dan/Panther]

What might an average price be for a decent shape Kellogg 1000 Redbar Phone ?
Working, needs cleaning nothing broken or chipped.


Dan/Panther

[Dennis Markham]

Dan,  I bought one off eBay in January of this year.  I paid $61 plus shipping.  I thought at the time that it was a good price.  I had been watching them for quite a while. They had been selling anywhere from $50-$125.  The one I got needed a handset cord but otherwise was in very good condition.   Here's a link to a page of completed listings from eBay for phones that recently sold or didn't sell.

http://tinyurl.com/5d2b7f

I think they're going cheaper now.  I got lucky and mine had a straight line ringer so it works on today's system.

[McHeath]

Does everything seem to be going for cheaper prices or is it just my wishful thinking?

[Dennis Markham]

I think definitely things are going cheaper.  My GUESS is it's the economy.  Generally telephones seem to slow down after April and until Thanksgiving.  There are the exceptions for the real collectible phones.  But generally speaking I think prices are lower right now.  It's a buyer's market.  Last week I picked up a pretty nice Pekin Red D1 with F1 handset, a Continental--factory refurbished with a 5J dial for under $60 including shipping.  I think a year ago it would have gone for twice that.  It needs a handset cord but a nice phone to add to my colored D1 collection.  I'll attach a photo.  Sorry to stray from the topic.

[Dan/Panther]

Dennis;
Were those colored phones, solid color all through, or painted?
Dan/Panther

[Dennis Markham]

They are painted.  A factory refurbish job, usually around 1955.  I have an ivory one, I think I posted a photo somewhere on here in the past, that may have been a bit earlier.  Some did have the plastic handsets.  I was hoping this would have been one of them.  I bought an Imperial (the bronze colored D1 base) that did come with the plastic ivory handset, rather than a painted black one.  A friend of mine brought his Pekin Red over after this arrived, to compare the color.  It looks like they were painted in the same shop---the colors matched so well which confirmed this was not a backyard paint job.

I think as colored plastic sets became popular, the phone company once again refurbished material on hand to make the supply of surplus phones more desirable.  I am told that these were painted in the same colors that were available in the 500 sets.  I have only 3 now, Ivory, Green and Red.

[Dan/Panther]

Here I was thinking that they made them from Red Bakelte, or something similar. So how can you spot a fake ?

Dan/Panther

[benhutcherson]

Take a look at this green 302-not in the best shape, but a heck of a good sale price. I'm sorry that I didn't bid on it

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&rd=1&item=250304168829&ssPageName=STRK:MEWA:IT&ih=015

[Dennis Markham]

It is difficult to spot a fake.  I bought one (ivory) maybe 6 months ago off eBay.  I paid too much, over $100.  It was a total fake.  It was so fake that the paint was literally still wet (sticky) when I got it.  The seller had even painted the inside of the caps brown as some of the older handsets were actually brown Bakelite, not black.  I didn't know at the time that brown Bakelite handsets had no groove that runs along the handle of the handset.  So when someone asked what color was inside the handset the seller said brown.  The photo on eBay wasn't good enough to tell that.  The handset cord was an electrical cord...it was just one disaster after another.  The guy sells phones and I haven't seen him on eBay in a while.  Unfortunately his name escapes me, but I'll know it when I see it.  I ended up giving it to a fellow collector who ended up parting it out.  So sometimes one has to take a chance.  I did on the red one and was not disappointed.  That's the first red one I've seen on eBay.  There may have been more but I wasn't shopping for one at the time I guess.

Take a look at this.  The dial card retainer ring was glued to what was once the front of an AE dial.  The dial card was a Xerox of a real one...  I didn't ask enough questions.  I had bought a couple 5J dials and my tunnel vision thought that I'd put one in this phone.

[Dennis Markham]

Ben, I had seen that phone.  Even with the damage that is a decent price for that phone.  If cleaned up a bit and put on the shelf it would be a nice example of a green 302 until a better one comes along.  Another example of prices coming down.  Now had it been in better shape, perhaps there would have been more interest.