🅰🅻🅸🅲🅴 (🌈🦄)Girlfriend's mom: Oh, Alice, while you're here, I have this lockbox that I don't have a key for.
Me: Grab it!
Girlfriend's mom: It's not really urg—
Me: —It's open.
Girlfriend's mom: Wow.
Girlfriend's mom: ...darn, it's not full of cash.
jgeorge@alice i bought a payphone from an antiques expo today, and i know my way around one and picking this one up it was heavier than it should have been. I turned it upside down (after purchase, away from the seller) and heard a fair number of coins sloshing around in it. :)
This was almost a lockpicking reply but I do not have the chops (nor do I know anyone who does) who can pick the lock. the pins ROTATE to set. It’ll get drilled out and replaced, sadly. :(
vandorb12@vandorb12 @alice This is an original Western Electric lock, so they are pain to pick. These ARE pickable with some skills that I lack. Tubular locks would be about 5 minutes. :/
@jgeorge as in the old lever locks?
Now I want to pick it even more!
@alice @vandorb12 Yeah its an old WE lever lock. I have a key coming for this one but if you wanna pick one for shiggles I can send you one to play with
@jgeorge that would be awesome!
@jgeorge if you're near Seattle, I'll open it for you.
@alice Bless your lockpicking heart! I’m about as far away from Seattle as you can get and still be in the continental US (GA) so I can’t take you up on the offer, but thank you. :)
I thought it might have been an aftermarket lock but it looks like the original Western Electric lock. Thankfully the phone body locks were “regional” so all phones in an area used the same upper lock key. I know where mine came from, and found a place to cut replacement keys, so we’ll see if that works without drilling it out.
It’s not a modern lock so it’s one of the older kinds that are pickable with some skills, if I guessed at the wrong key I may spend some time trying to pick it before I resort to drilling.
@alice But just look at it in all it’s filthy glory!
A 198x Western Electric 1D2 payphone, in less than ideal but still better-than-average condition. There are coins rattling around inside of it, so there’s a slight discount off the price once I get it open.
Bryan Veal
RealGene ☣️
Onni
Diane@alienghic @RealGene Other recent pickup was an indoor use at a restaurant. Looks like it’s never been used.
A nice shiny barely-used payphone from a recent acquisition. Came with keys, and works, already programmed to take quarters on a regular phone line!
Muro deGrizecoDoes anyone have a direct dial number back into the 70s? I have some quarters. We need to call them. We need to warn them. Because this current timeline shouldn't exist!
The Doctor@drwho @alice I ordered one that I think is correct. If the lock is open, the key# is stamped on the back. I tried looking at the back of the lock with a borescope but wasn’t able to make out any markings. The upper housing locks were “regional” for western electric, so if you know where the phone is from you have a pretty good chance of getting the right key cut for it. I’ll let you know in a couple of days how well that did or did not work out for me. :)