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another door opens.” By 1880 Bell began to turn business matters over
to Hubbard and others so he could pursue a wide range of other inven-
Alexander Graham Bell tions and intellectual pursuits, for which he held 18 patents in his
and Helen Keller. name alone and shared another 12 with collaborators. Among his
The two met in 1886 and
remained steadfast friends lesser-known inventions are the Photophone, a telecommunications
until his death in 1922. The device that allows transmission of speech on a beam of light; the
two would correspond using Hydrofoil, a lifting surface or “foil” that operates in water; HD-4, an
a braille typewriter, which early research hydrofoil watercraft; the Audiometer, a device used to
Keller also used to write evaluate the hearing threshold of a person; and the Metal Detector, an
her first autobiography, electronic instrument that detects the presence of metal nearby.
The Story of My Life, Bell died peacefully on August 2, 1922, at his home in Baddeck on
which she dedicated to him, Cape Breton Island, Nova Scotia, Canada. Shortly after his death, the
writing, “To Alexander entire telephone system was shut
Graham Bell, who has down for one minute to pay tribute
taught the deaf to speak and to his genius.
enabled the listening ear to
hear speech from the Collectibles Market
Atlantic to the Rockies.”
Like many inventions, time
improves on everything from
design and size to performance,
to his own inventions and explorations, including the discovery of how which has certainly been the case
speech could be transmitted electrically, and developing a machine that with the telephone, which makes
could reproduce human speech. this such a popular and universally-
At 23, Bell started experimenting with converting music into an relatable collectible category. Who
electrical signal. By age 26, now living in the US, he was exploring ways among us over a certain age does
to transmit the human voice over wire in much the same was as the not remember the telephone
The final version of the Bell logo,
electrical telegraph. Invented 40 years earlier, the telegraph would attached to the wall and limited by created by Saul Bass and adopted on
transmit ‘clicks’ to communicate messages over a great distance. Bell the distance of a cord? Or rotary October 12, 1969 by Western
had found that human speech came in wave-like patterns. He now dial telephones? Or, the princess Electric Company
hoped to produce an electrical wave that would follow the same telephones of the 1960s that came
patterns as someone’s speech. in colors and featured light-up dials? And character-designed, novelty
Bell won financial backing from Gardiner Hubbard (who would phones like Mickey Mouse or Snoopy? With over 140 years of
become Bell’s father-in-law) and Thomas Sanders, two wealthy commercial products on the market, there are lots of samples to collect,
investors. Hubbard also brought in Anthony Pollok, his patent and ways to build a collection.
attorney. The money enabled Bell to hire Thomas Watson, a skilled Initially, phones were rented by the homeowner through their local
electrical engineer whose knowledge complemented Bell’s. To this telephone company, to whom they paid a monthly fee. You could not
day, Watson is intertwined in the historical retelling of Bell’s outright buy the telephone device and options were limited to the “Ma
important invention. Bell” phones they sold. What was then a
monopoly owned by AT&T changed in 1983
The Patent Wars when the U.S. government ended AT&T’s
The following year, in 1875, Bell and his monopoly and consumers suddenly had the
investors decided the time had come to option to buy their own phone. New phone
protect his intellectual property using manufacturers entered the market to provide a
patents. They filed first in the UK and then in variety of options to suit any decor. The
the US in 1876. However, Elisha Gray phone market exploded!
had already beat Bell to the U.S. patent office
in February 1876 for a telephone which used What’s It Worth?
a variable resistor based on a liquid: saltwater. With so much product history is every-
Bell’s patent was for a liquid mercury-based thing old worth anything? Collectible phones
variable resistor. come in many forms. Wall mount, push-
With his patent filed and his concept button, candlestick phones, desk sets,
protected, Bell turned to the final steps decorator, and novelty phones are all
necessary to make his telephone work. He and collectible. Some are of modest value while
Watson finally accomplished the task three others can fetch hundreds in the right setting.
days later with the now-infamous message— Wooden wall mount phones first appeared
“Mr. Watson, come here, I need you”—from in the late 1870s. Expensive to own and tricky
Bell to his assistant. As this working telephone to operate, you reached your party through
was based on a design similar to Gray’s, Gray Alexander Graham Bell made the first long-distance the use of an operator or by a series of short
lay claim to having invented the telephone telephone call in 1892, reaching Chicago from New York and long cranks of a handle, not unlike
while Bell reaped the glory. photo: Stefano Bianchetti sending Morse Code. These phones hit their
On the heels of Bell’s success at the peak of popularity as a collectible in the
Philadelphia Centennial Exposition, the Bell Telephone Company was mid-1990s and have since dramatically decreased in value. The most
organized in 1877. He and Mable Hubbard married and embarked on common models were made by Western Electric in 1919 and in the
a tour of Europe to demonstrate the telephone. Upon their return to current market can often be found in the $80 to $100 range with
the United States, Bell was summoned to Washington D.C. to phones from historic buildings fetching a premium for their history.
defend his telephone patent from lawsuits. Others, like Gray, claimed Vintage rotary phones, in general, have been gaining value as they
they had invented the telephone or had conceived of the idea become harder to find, and their designs and colors connect with the
before Bell. Over the next 18 years, the Bell Company faced over 550 retro decorating vibe. For a vintage rotary phone in mint working
court challenges, including several that went to the Supreme Court, condition, prices typically range from $20 to as high as $500 for
but none were successful. rarer phones, although on average you can find these phones in the
Bell is credited with the now famous saying “when one door closes $40 to $70 range.

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