Auction 339: Bell Tel 19thC Wood "butter stamp" Receiver - Ended 8-01-18

[FABphones]

Contest Winner:  TelePlay...
Guessed Price:  $8,165.00...
Winning Price:   $7,322.00...

Crikey. I wonder why this one went so high.

Well done teleplay. You should change your name to telepathic!   

[Sargeguy]

 This receiver Is the earliest commercially viable telephone receiver's. It was made within the first couple years of the telephone being invented. They are extremely rare, and  relatively few of them are actually marked .

[rdelius]

This also  was used as a transmitter in eearly "coffin" sets before the  carbon blake transmitter was  developed.Made late 1870s
Some sets had 2 one to listen and one to talk into,some had one move it back and forth .Sound powered so short didtance only

[TelePlay]

The Telephone Pioneers Auction on Saturday has one, Lot 35, and it will be interesting to see what it sells for then.

While there is one less buyer in the market, there but were 3 buyers who bid over $1,000 and lost out on this eBay item who may pay more in they really wanted one. Actually, the sale price was less than what the winning bidder offered some 4 minutes before the auction ended. The buyer who came in second, set the sale price by bidding $7,222 which was automatically bumped up $100 to $7,322 due to the winner's high bid.

I've always wondered what those extremely high, got to have it at any price, bids are. Could have been $30,000 just to make sure the won the item. No one knows except the winning bidder what that very high bid was.

I'm sure the buyer who came in second also placed a very high bid in their mind at $7,222 with 5 seconds to go and was surprised that they did not win, and that $7,222 was 3 times the $1,800 showing when the winner put in their extremely high bid which to them might have seemed like enough win, to beat out any other bids, but not this time.

The big winner in this auction was the seller who had two people bidding very high. Had it not been for the $7,222 last second bid, the winner would have been the same but would have taken the receiver home for $2,400. That's eBay and in this case, the seller won.

[Doug Rose]

It's back....Doug

https://www.ebay.com/itm/223100843511?

[Sargeguy]

Doesn't seem to be as much interest this time around.  The first bidder reneged and the runner up didn't want it for that price.  Maybe they know something we don't?

[FABphones]

Whoops! But I'm not surprised.

Just my thoughts, but I did wonder if the winner of that auction would pay up. I figured it might be two bidders bidding high to 'clear all bids' each not knowing another had done the same.

I took my guess at the hammer price from one that had sold recently (and then added a bit on).

What did the other (Lot 35) auction receiver sell for, anyone know?
ETA: Found it - 'SOLD $650'

[HarrySmith]

The seller does not mention the non paying bid in the new listing. I wonder if someone spotted something that indicates it is not what they thought it was?

[Sargeguy]

Whoops! But I'm not surprised.

Just my thoughts, but I did wonder if the winner of that auction would pay up. I figured it might be two bidders bidding high to 'clear all bids' each not knowing another had done the same.

I took my guess at the hammer price from one that had sold recently (and then added a bit on).

What did the other (Lot 35) auction receiver sell for, anyone know?
ETA: Found it - 'SOLD $650'

The $650 receiver was probably over priced.  It is unmarked, damaged, and not a Bell receiver.  A similar receiver was on the early Bell Tap phone in the same auction that sold for close to 30K with the buyer's premium.

[Doug Rose]

It went for $4628.....Doug