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Not so “RARE” phones, phony items and other such fakery on eBay

Started by Phonesrfun, March 17, 2011, 01:36:48 PM

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tubaman

Quote from: MMikeJBenN27 on December 07, 2020, 01:25:20 AM
I agree 100%.  There is somebody called AmericanHeritagemuseum.com, spelled that way with no spaces, trying to sell an ivory Western Electric 302.  They insist that it is a 30s phone, even though I have tried to point out to them that this 302 was made in the late 40s or early to mid 50s, and the reason I know that is because it has a Post War base plate, plus, 30s phones had a painted metal shell, not a plastic one.  They want almost $600.00 for it, and advertise it as completely restored, with no cracks or chips.  It is FULL of cracks.  E-Bay refuses to do anything about it.

Mike

Assume you mean this one - https://www.ebay.com/itm/Western-Electric-Ivory-Model-302-Telephone-Fully-Restored-Circa-1930s/143660456427 - seller is "americanheritageusacom".
Not a good example at all, but at least that's clear from the photos despite the very misleading description.
If they 'have never seen a nicer ivory model' then I suggest a trip to Specsavers!
:)

FABphones

Screenshots, inc sellers phone description.
A collector of  'Monochrome Phones with Sepia Tones'   ...and a Duck!
***********
Vintage Phones - 10% man made, 90% Tribble
*************

tubaman

Quote from: FABphones on December 07, 2020, 03:15:06 AM
Screenshots, inc sellers phone description.

Thanks @FABphones - I should have done that myself.  :-[

FABphones

I must have missed something. Sold for $188 plus shipping.
A collector of  'Monochrome Phones with Sepia Tones'   ...and a Duck!
***********
Vintage Phones - 10% man made, 90% Tribble
*************

rdelius


Pourme

~

I tried to find it but failed, one sold not long ago for over $400.00

Mabey some of you saw that one. Ouch!
Benny

Panasonic 308/616 Magicjack service

FABphones

Another 1910 fake/copy, recently sold on eBay UK. Extra thick paint on this one.

Price shown on screenshot was the auction start price, but was sold via the 'make offer' option.

Hope no one here bought this.
A collector of  'Monochrome Phones with Sepia Tones'   ...and a Duck!
***********
Vintage Phones - 10% man made, 90% Tribble
*************

tubaman

Quote from: FABphones on May 28, 2021, 03:21:35 AM
Another 1910 fake/copy, recently sold on eBay UK. Extra thick paint on this one.

Price shown on screenshot was the auction start price, but was sold via the 'make offer' option.

Hope no one here bought this.

I spotted that one. At initial glance it looked nice, but closer inspection soon revealed its true identity as you say.

MMikeJBenN27

I second you!  There is a museum called the American Heritage Museum trying to sell two ivory Western Electric 302 sets.  One of them is being called a 1930s phone, despite the fact that 30s examples used a different base plate, and had a metal, not plastic shell.  I pointed this out to them, only to get blocked.  Their other 302 is being described as being made of "Thermalite", whatever that is, and is white, rather than ivory.

Mike

MMikeJBenN27

I keep reporting this to E-Bay, and have even called them on the phone, but they refuse to do anything about it, yet if I describe an ITT phone as being just like Western Electric phones, which in fact they are, they take my auction down.

Babybearjs

You all have to remember that there are a lot of people outside the community that don't know what they have or know how to ID something.... so its up to you to bring these matters up to the sellers. there are times I have to write the seller and tell them what they actually have... most antique dealers know nothing about what they sell except what was told to them by the person who sold it to them (or gave it to them). and looking at what they are selling.... only the trained person knows exactly what it is....
John

MMikeJBenN27

Right now, somebody is trying to sell a North Electric phone that looks like it was made for the military as being from the Second World War, despite the fact that Touch Tone did not exist in the 40s.  This phone is probably from the 70s.  That seller has me blocked, so they have probably lied about items before and don't like it when I correct them.

Doug Rose

When talking about things on eBay, PLEASE take a second to copy the link so we know what you are talking about...Doug
Kidphone

MMikeJBenN27

Another one is sellers calling their color 302s "Extremely rare".  Blue ones are, but the others are not, especially the ivory ones.