This is a fun category. I'm not talking about the Alexander Graham Bell type phones that are antiques - but those (horrible?) avocado or golden harvest colored phones from the 1960's, 1970's, and 1980's that we had in our kitchens and family rooms. Do you remember the powder blue or flamingo pink trim line phones we had in our bedrooms? These vintage phones are very collectible and are great sellers on eBay - and they don't even have to work!
Gone are the days when you ordered your phone from the phone company and they brought it to your house. No running up to Walmart to buy one. And the phone company had to come to your house to turn on the phone so you could use it. And remember standing in the kitchen next to the wall or sitting in a chair by the phone table in the family room to have a conversation? Cordless phones hadn't been invented yet - much less cell phones. If you were lucky, the cord would reach into a bathroom or closet and you could have some privacy. Imagine teenagers today stuck next to the kitchen wall talking on the phone!
Here are a few completed listings for vintage rotary phones. Keep your eyes out for these at thrift stores, garage sales, and estate sales. Thrift store prices are usually around $3-$5 for an old phone. Checkout the selling prices!
Vintage WESTERN ELECTRIC YELLOW ROTARY WALL PHONE nice
Vintage Pink Western Electric Rotary Desk Phone 500
Vintage Red Rotary Dial Wall Telephone Phone FIRE DEPT
Click here for my free list of thrift store items to sell on eBay.
Happy Selling!
3 comments:
A very interesting article. It is funny that the blue Princess you showed here is actually a touch-tone reproduction of a Vintage Rotary Phone. Interest in all things old is nothing new but telephones have become popular among those that are tired of listening to the ring of a modern telephone. Many of the telephones from the 1950's are readily available at the places you mentioned, as well as eBay and they do work. It's just a matter of putting the right connection on the end of the phone cord. Collectors of telephones have been at it for decades. There are still some very rare phones out there. Your run-of-the-mill plastic telephone, with modular cords won't fetch a lot but a profit can be made. If one were to stumble on a rare phone the results of an eBay sale can be incredible. Just a few weeks ago a woman sold a Western Electric Model 302 that was made with clear plastic. Such phones were made for retiring members of the telephone company or for special occasions. This lady got it at a rummage sale in the mid-west and hoped for $20-$25 on eBay. It sold for $2,800 and some change! You can learn about these phones on my blog site at www.VintageRotaryPhones.com. In fact if you read back on the posts you will find a 5 part series on what to look for on eBay. It serves the seller well too. Those of us that collect phones have certain things we look for before buying.
An interesting note on the phones shown as examples here. The yellow wall phone (later with modular cord) brought more than it should have. Notice the buyer has a zero feedback rating---a rookie. The pink phone was also purchased by a rookie. A seller's dream is to get a couple of those rookie to fight over the product. But that's another story.
Best of luck in your quest to find Vintage Rotary Phones!
Dennis Markham
www.VintageRotaryPhones
www.ClassicRotaryPhones
I wonder if any of you posters or commenties happen to know if the reason some of these vintage phones are "In Demand" is that they are NOT digital and do not need electricity to operate them. (I believe this is correct) In an emergency (power outage) situation when land lines don't work or our cell phones are jammed during intermitant power outages these old fashioned beauties WILL work. I am correct in my assumptions? It may help us to look along those lines of function rather than vintage collectible only.
Janet,
Yep, that assumption is correct. We were glad we had a couple of these old vintage phones around the house during a recent power outage that lasted 52 hours. The cordless phones did not work and our house is in a spot where we get very unreliable cell phone reception. The old phone didn't have a single problem.
Another advantage to the old classics is they last for ages. We typically have to replace our cordless phones every few years because they stop working.
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