A couple days ago I was rooting around in the garage for something, and came across a box of stuff I didn’t recognize at first. After digging in I realized it was my loot from the Telephone Collectors show! Stuff that I had to bring back and immediately stash due to a crazy week of plans that didn’t have any time for tinkering or nerdy stuff. I guess I didn’t need the stuff that bad š
Despite being wedged into a packed couple weeks in my early summer calendar, I managed to get over to the Lancaster area to attend the 2022 Telephone Collectors International (TCI) show, something they haven’t had since before the pandemic.
My last and only time I attended this show was 2013, and for whatever reason, I just forgot about it or didn’t have interest in going back. I’m happy to report I was so glad I went this time around though.
I’m not a “serious” collector, in fact most things I have often either have a nostalgic factor, or simply that age old “I just think they’re neat” factor. I don’t have a “ton” of phone stuff, but if you’ve read previous posts, I do have a small handful of items from Ma Bell, including a couple Merlin PBXs I played with last winter.
My shopping list was short; look for any interesting Merlin stuff, perhaps see if I could find a controller for a “1A2” phone I have on my tv stand (aka my “tech museum”), and anything else that looked interesting. Done!
Walking in, it looked nearly identical to the scene I remembered from 2013; at first glance it looks like a high school science fair, but really it’s part flea market, part museum, part science fair. Some tables had exhibits, some were neatly organized vendors, and others were just dumped out piles of parts waiting for a goober like me to root around in them. I don’t judge!
I found a lot of unique things to see this time around, including this interesting “lobby” phone that I later joked with my dad he might actually hear ring
Regardless of what hobby it is, I’m often amazed at some of the items that show up to these events, especially considering the effort it took to get them there.
Some of which are soo tempting to bring home just for coolness factor alone…
A surprise I wasn’t expecting was to see the crew from the Connections Museum there; spent some time chatting with Astrid, while Sarah was bouncing around looking for deals.
All in all, I had a great time at the show, and EVERYBODY was SUPER helpful and answered all my dumb questions. I picked up some loot to play with, and seriously the vendors went out of their way to dig up additional pieces and explain how things should work, and I can’t wait to attend again next year! Stay tuned for a Part 2 I’ll probably never get to that covers some of the loot!