Brass candlestick phone

Dear experts

A friend of mine who is British is thinking of letting go his candlestick phone that he received as a gift from his boss long time ago, but he's not sure how much it's worth. Please can you give your insightful feedback on its value? Thanks very much.

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It's got an inbuilt rotary dial, so I'm assuming it's a later model, from the 1920s probably. By the 30s I think these were going out of style.

 

Thanks mate, I think you're probably right. The owner is already close to 80 and whoever gave that to him has already kicked the bucket.

Do you have any idea how much it is worth? Cheers.

 

Worth? I wouldn't have a clue. Standard rotary phones are extremely cheap. Any antiques shop on earth will have loads of them. This being older is probably worth more, and it's brass, so it's cool, but again, it's not a REALLY OLD model like those from the 1880s or 1890s.

My guess is a couple of hundred bucks. Somewhere between $100-$250. I may be totally wrong, but I don't see it being worth more than that.

 

Thanks for your feedback, I really appreciate it.

More pictures for better valuation
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I see the plug's been cut off, so that'll have to be re-wired.

I thought these phones had cloth cords?

 

No idea why hehehe, not an expert

 

It is a relatively modern 'home decor' item, not an early phone. These were all over the place in the 1970s. It is quite possible they are still being made.

 

The lack of a cloth cord is what made me hesitate as to whether this was antique or not. I should've gone with my gut.

 

Thank you. Is it fair if I sell it for say £80-90?

 

That may be optimistic.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/ANTIQUE-VIN...000997?hash=item3ab99a4f65:g:3u8AAOSwrklVXd4B

 

Thank you for the tips

 

Don't know about the value especially if it's newish. Here is an older phone that was re-purposed (not too recently) as a lamp if you're looking for ideas. When you lift the earpiece the light turns on. The original wiring to the earpiece is a cloth cord a bit on the scary side. I paid about $40 for it in the last year but think it's a fun piece but not so valuable.

 

The one shown on eBay looked totally cheap and repro!!! Wish ours had the brass hanging ear piece!!!! It too is old, was my FiL's so hubby would never part with it and that's great!!! But it too has been re-wired for safety as a lamp.

 

My grandparents old black candlestick phone was in operation well into the late 40's. Original # was 570, then 0570, then HI 6 0570. Yeesh! The things rattling around my gray matter!

 

If it were original it would need considerably more than "rewiring", it would need a pulse to tone converter in order to work. Doable, but not cheap. As af says, though, this is a repro, so probably does tone dialling.

sis, don't worry about the cloth cord to the earpiece, it never carried current in the way you think in the first place. 50v signalling won't do much more than sting - and , all that cord carried was the speech. Just be sure that the main metal body of the lamp is properly earthed. That's important.

 

(the wiring to the plug is pretty old too, not polarized)

 

That, I'd get checked out and rewired. A metal lamp really ought to be earthed.

 

I've just been leaving it unplugged until I get to having it checked. Sure is cool when you plug it in, just wouldn't want it to get "hot"