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What do you collect?
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05-03-2010 4:44pm#1Well what about it then? What makes you tick, and makes your pulse increase when you come across it in a shop/saleroom/eBay etc?
Me, well I have been collecting everything since as far back as I can remember - probably the earliest things being animal cards that came free with Bird's (?) jellies in the 1960s. I moved on to beermats (picked up in hotels where we used to go for Sunday lunch) to cigarette packets, bottle tops, coins, stamps - followed by a prolonged and destructive period egg collecting as a early teenager which fortunately ended before I came into contact with rare birds. Twenty plus years collecting railwayana from tickets to full size locomotives which I'm only just recovering from and wouldn't recommend if you wish to remain sane and solvent! Along with collecting railwayana my interest in old phoneboxes developed - I blame the Dr.Who series for this - and at one stage I owned two full-size British K6 phoneboxes as well as a P+T one. A change in circumstances and lifestyle, in recent years, has led to a scaling back in my collecting and today the full-size phoneboxes have been replaced by more practical examples that fit comfortably on my bookcase.
So what does everbody else collect?
The Meccano K6 pictured above is just over 2 inches high and is slightly more manageable than the full-size version which weighs in at almost one ton.3
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arch staunton wrote: »I like the phone boxes do u still have I collect old ploughs,pumps etc for my garden .I would like a phone box like this to add if the wife allows that is.:o
No, I got rid of mine years ago - hence the meccano one - but they can be had on eBay and a salvage dealer in NI occasionally has them in stock. Expect to pay €1,000+ for one in need of restoration and remember they are awkward to shift. I will post details of the NI dealer if I can find.
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As my interest in collecting phoneboxes was caused by the Dr.Who TV series it is not surprising that I also collect items connected with that show. Of course, the Tardis is a fundamental part of any Dr.Who collection and while I fully intend to eventually buy a full size model this phone flasher suffices for the time being. Perfect in every detail this Tardis has a flashing light and makes the materialising sound when I receive a call on my mobile - how sad is that? The Cyberman, K9 and Dalek are all Corgi figures and very detailed - the Cyberman is one of the earlier scary type a far cry from the daft looking Stars Wars type robot which is now used. The tin boxed set of Cybermen videos was predicted as being a future collectable by Millers Guides more than 10 years ago but it is still available quite cheaply on eBay. The photograph is of your truly on Honeymoon in June 2000 at the Dr.Who Exhibition Centre in Llangollen, North Wales - and no, that's not the wife!
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As one things leads to another I also collect postboxes - formerly full size ones but like the phoneboxes I have now downsized to miniatures that fit on the bookcase. Decent, high quality boxes are hard to come by and the two smaller ones here are a diecast alloy and very detailed - royal ciphers etc. They were made in England some years ago under licence to the Royal Mail - sometimes to be found on eBay.
The larger green one was made in China as part of a World series - it is a British Penfold box from the 1860s and is painted in the Royal Mail heritage colour scheme hence its Irish appearance. It is a really superb example, heavily built and all the details of collection times etc can clearly be read with a magnifying glass! They are available through the Hong Kong Post Office but the manufacturer appears to have disappeared off the face of the earth. They are comparatively cheap and are posted by registered mail see more info here: http://www.shopthrupost.hk/product_listing.jsp?catid=CA51&ad=none
The book is a recently published work published by An Post (available online here http://www.irishstamps.ie) or from the GPO in O'Connell Street, and is a lavish production which I can highly recommend. I will return to this subject shortly.
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Some useful links here - Unicorn kiosks are about for quite a long time. Shipping costs need to be considered and also the iceberg factor - there is a large base to the pillarbox that needs to be buried deep.
http://www.unicornkiosks.com/post-boxes.html
http://www.britishbits.co.uk/ Full size original British phoneboxes and post boxes.
http://www.englishphoneboxes.com/
eBay is another source but be careful there are many very convincing repros out there, even of the full size pillarbox. Here's a link for a pole box: http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ER-II-Cast-iron-Post-Box-GPO-Red-Post-Office-style_W0QQitemZ320499471760QQcmdZViewItemQQptZUK_Home_Garden_Door_Accessories_LE?hash=item4a9f41d590 not sure if it's a repro.
I know that An Post have 'officially' stopped selling off boxes but I would still think they are worth a try. I used to know a salvage dealer in Cork City that had a couple of very old pillar boxes and I will check for you but even ten years ago he wanted massive money for them.
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Old Irish postcards including, don't laugh, the 1960's Oirish diddle e aydle John Hinde ones.
Beer labels and bottle tops.
Old tools and implements.
Pre-1945 European travel books.
Militaria, mostly WW2 but always on the lookout for anything interesting or unusual.
An eclectic collector like myself. I can go along with everything except the John Hinde cards - I presume you only look at them in a dark room - don't worry I won't tell anybody else!
I collect beer labels but still attached to the bottles which means they take up more space and forever need taking down and cleaning. Did you see the militaria link I put up? Some interesting WWII stuff on it here: http://collectireland.blogspot.com/2010/03/interesting-militaria-website.html0 -
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please be careful what you say about what antiques you may have as there are those out there who would like to know what you have and a quick look back on your adverts tell a lot this is just my twopence worth and sorry to topple the topic.:(
there are scammers multiplying tenfold in the last 2 years. :mad:
I know what you're saying but I don't think we are giving away too much here and anyway we can always highlight possible scams when they come to light. 0 -
for now we can always highlight possible scams when they come to light.Judgement Day wrote: »I know what you're saying but I don't think we are giving away too much here and anyway we can always highlight possible scams when they come to light.
OK OK.0 -
Some more postbox info here. The British pillar boxes are available from the Hong Kong Post Office and are high quality items with superb detail - much better than my poor pic. They are, on average, 5 inches high and made of moulded plastic. Both books are out of print but available on www.abebooks.com and can be highly recommended.
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Hi Judgement Day,
Really enjoying the two great threads you have going lately, this one and the Guinness collectables one. I've been lurking happily on both for weeks. I'm a Callcard collector myself, I've loved them since I was a kid. Got back into collecting a couple of years ago and have amassed a large collection since. But I'm a fan of all things P&T, Telecom Eireann and (to a lesser extent), Eircom related and I was wondering if you've ever seen or heard of a scale model of a P&T or Telecom Eireann telephone box for sale anywhere. I spent a good portion of my childhood scouring phoneboxes for Callcards and I'd love a model of one to put on my shelves now (especially since the real ones are fast disappearing). Ideally I'd like a Telecom Eireann one but P&T would be brilliant either. Unfortunately I don't think a quality model of either has ever been produced, I've certainly never seen one. Can you tell me if I'm missing something in my search?
Thanks a million and keep the posts coming on both threads
Danco0 -
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Cheers Judgement Day,
I'm confident that sooner or later the nostalgia boom will be big enough to encourage someone to start producing model phoneboxes. I just hope they're good quality when they finally turn up. If you can bend anyones ear about starting production please do!
Yeah, I can remember losing a lot of coins to tyrannical phoneboxes, usually because they had just been emptied of all their change and I had just inserted a pound coin, only to find that the number I wanted wasn't answering (but had an answering machine so I could be charged for the call). They were all Telecom Eireann phones though, I've never had the opportunity to use a proper P&T phone, not that I remember anyway.
I had my own experience with a blocked coin return chute when I was a kid, although it was a vending machine not a phone. I was buying chocolate or something in Busaras and the machine failed to cough up my change. A quick rummage in the coin chute exposed a clump of paper which once removed was followed by a cascade of various coins. Bonanza for me, but I bet there was some gouger cursing me when he came back for his days takings that evening
I'd love a model of an Irish postbox too so hopefully your petition to An Post is a success.0 -
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Were old post boxes and phone boxes not exactly the same as the UK ones but painted over green?
Most Irish postboxes still date from the pre-independence period and boxes with the Royal ciphers of Queen Victoria, Edward VII and George V can be found throughout the country. They were just painted over with green paint and, in most cases, the ciphers have been left intact. When boxes are damaged it is usually the door and so older boxes often have later doors including the rare Irish Free State monogram - see below.
Sadly Ireland became independent a few years too early in terms of phoneboxes and consequently the Republic missed out on the attractive British cast iron phoneboxes (K2 introduced in 1926; the K6 "The Jubilee" box in 1936). Our stock of phoneboxes were almost all concrete/timber and few enough of these have survived. They had none of the beauty of the cast iron boxes which were designed as part of a competition run by the Royal Fine Arts Commission. The winning design for both the K2 and K6 boxes was by the internationally renowned architect, Sir Giles Gilbert Scott, and were a far cry from todays' shower cabinets. There are several good books on British phonebox and I will post some pics later.
Interestingly, I've just noticed that the box pictured here was produced here in DG (Enniscorthy) by Jessop Davis Foundry.0 -
Here is a full size version of the standard Irish concrete phonebox - for sale in the UK -details below. The colour scheme is correct save for the door which would have also been cream with small glazed windows like the side panels. The later larger panel in the door - usually perspex - was an anti-vandal measure.
FOR SALE : IRISH TELEPHONE BOX
Irish telephone kiosk. Now very scarce, even in Ireland. Reinforced concrete slab construction with hard wood door. Will be supplied with original A&B coinbox and directory shelf.
Contact : Unicorn Kiosk Restorations, Surrey, UK. Tel:020 8651 2436
Unicorn Kiosks web address below is a reputable dealer in old phoneboxes/postboxes - if you're feeling wealthy.
http://www.unicornkiosks.com/0 -
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That is class!Judgement Day wrote: »When boxes are damaged it is usually the door and so older boxes often have later doors including the rare Irish Free State monogram - see below.0
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