Peoples’
lives were either less stressful or more frustrating, possibly even both.
In the
time of the Revolutionary War, political leaders would send a representative (a
gopher in today’s lingo) to a tavern to listen in to conversations. The
representative’s responsibility was to “go sip” some ale while he was
eavesdropping on conversations around the room. The person would try to get a
feel as to the feelings of the leaders of the day. As you may have guessed, “go
sip” evolved in to the common word today “gossip”. All that eventually changed
as technology began affecting lives. One such invention was that of the
telephone.
In the
1870s, two inventors, Elisha Gray and Alexander Graham Bell independently
designed devices that had the ability to transmit speech electronically. The
telephone was about to be born. Both Gray and Graham rushed to get their
designs to the patent office. Graham was declared the winner, and is recognized
as the inventor of the telephone. A legal battle ensued between Gray and
Graham, but there was no changing the result.
Graham’s
designs were a direct result of his attempts to improve the telegraph, which,
like the telephone is a wire-boxed electrical system. The telegraph had been a
means of communication for thirty years, but was limited to receiving and
sending one message at a time. Bell’s knowledge of the nature of sound, and his
understanding of music, enabled him to think of the possibility of transmitting
sound messages over the same wire at the same time. Graham believed that
several notes would be sent simultaneously along the same wire if the notes or
signals differed in pitch.
Graham’s
young partner was none other than Thomas Watson. Watson would later be a star
in his own right, as he founded what is now IBM.
By June
1875 Graham and Watson had proven that different tones would vary the strength
of an electric current in a wire. On June 2, 1875, while Alexander Graham Bell
was experimenting with his device call the “harmonic telegraph” discovered he
could hear sounds over a wire. The sound he heard was that of a clock spring.
He perfected his device, and March 10, 1876 is considered the “birth of the
telephone”. Speaking through his instrument to his assistant Thomas Watson in
the next room, he uttered the famous words “Mr. Watson – come here – I want to
see you”.
The
telephone was in, the telegraph was out.
And
collectors are enamored by vintage telephones. Of course, it also increases the
value of an item if it was the personal property of a celebrity.
For
example, how about the personal phone of the “Duke”, or as he is commonly
known, John Wayne? Well, it so happened that a Wayne-owned phone was auctioned
in 2011, and was sold for nearly $6000. It would have been pretty cool if it
came with an answering machine with his voice leaving a message, but that was
not the case. Anyway, it still is a neat item, especially for any John Wayne
fan.
Another
item that was auctioned in 2014 for almost $4000 was a boxed telephone that
Elvis Presley gave as a gift to a close friend.
However,
collectors have also been attracted to the swanky candlestick telephones.
Naturally, the older the phone is, the more it is worth. An Ericsson wooden
candlestick telephone from 1895 sold at auction for $7500.
Collectors
also covet the vintage toll 50-cent pay station telephone. The ones made around
1900 are very rare and can be sold for thousands of dollars. Such was the case
in a 2011 auction where a 1901 pay station Western Electric phone went for
$17,000.
Try
telling your teenage children that even in the mid-1950s it was common to have
“party lines” where multiple families had to use the same telephone line. The
blank stares on their faces will be priceless.
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