Telephones Offered For Sale

From time to time I will be offering vintage telephones for sale. Each phone that I sell has been completely disassembled, cleaned, and lubricated where needed and reassembled. Each telephone will have been tested and guaranteed to be in working order.

These phones will be different from the many telephones offered for sale on eBay or found in garage sales, Estate sales, etc. Different in that all telephones that I offer for sale have been hand picked by me as having potential for being a beautiful restored telephone. Dennis Markham

Often on eBay you will see a telephone listed for sale where the seller makes comments like, “I don’t have the proper connection to test this phone,” or the phone is “being sold as is” and then there’s the “I don’t see any cracks or breaks” only to have the phone arrive to you broken and not working.

When I prepare a telephone for restoration there are many steps that I go through to make sure you are getting an authentic vintage telephone. Most of the telephones that I sell were manufactured the premier manufacturer of telephones in the world – Western Electric. I do not mix parts from non Western Electric telephones. If I find a part that needs replacement I have a large supply of phone parts that can be used to make the replacement – just as the telephone company did years ago when they owned the telephones.

My telephones are never painted or recoated. The plastic pieces are hand washed and dried. Afterward the plastic is hand polished over and over again until the lustre has returned to the finish. They are not NEW telephones but original, forty or fifty year old telephones or older. Some may have light scratches but they only add to the character of the telephone. I NEVER sell a cracked telephone unless it is advertised that way.

Internally the phone is also disassembled and each part detailed. I remove years of dirt and grime, cleaning all electrical contacts and moving parts. The inside is just as clean as the outside when I have finished detailing the telephone.

I literally spend eight to ten hours on each telephone that I sell. I am VERY picky and pay particular attention to detail. I never take shortcuts. I have many telephones that I have collected for my own personal collection. I make sure a telephone you buy would be proud to be in my collection. Dennis Markham

Obviously I have to enjoy the art of restoring the telephones. I get more satisfaction from the process than from the proceeds of the sale.

Just because I do not have a phone listed here for sale does not mean I don’t have the phone you’d like. Please contact me if you have a particular telephone in mind and I’ll see if I have one available or can get my hands on one for you. I really enjoy refurbishing a telephone with an owner already in mind.