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ZEBULON - For a month now, Pike County residents have been enjoying the display in the front window of the J. Joel Edwards Public Library, and many are amazed to learn that everything in the display is actually a telephone. The wonder heightens as they learn that this is only part of the Guinness world record for the largest private collection of telephones, currently held by Pike’s County Manager, Mike Phillips, who has so graciously loaned this display to the library for public viewing and delight.
The “idea” of collecting telephones did not occur until after the collection had already started. Mike and Mary Phillips had a small costume rental business in their home early in the 1980’s, where the story begins. Mary was working in the office of a nursing home and “volunteered” Mike for the Christmas Santa at the home. The suit pants and coat did not match, so Mary fixed up a new outfit on her Singer sewing machine. (In those days high school girls took Home Ec or Cosmetology in high school.) And so, Costumes, Ltd was born. Birthday Clowns, Easter Bunnies, and Halloween outfits followed, as well as makeup, masks, and wigs.
We bought our first telephone, Superman, from the Radio Shack discount table to use in the shop for a showpiece. It turned out that the phone had a limited production (300 phones) because the manufacturer did not have permission from DC Comics to use their Superman trademark. We eventually closed the Costumes Ltd business, and later decided to buy a few phones to put on a bookshelf to display with the Superman phone. Fifteen became 50, and 50 became 500, and then currently 1,200.
In 2011, our grandson bought a Guinness World Records book and noted that the world record for the largest telephone collection was much less than we already had, so we began pulling together the necessary documentation to make an attempt at a Guinness World Record. All items had to be “corded phones,” no cell phones or duplicates. The information was forwarded to London Guinness late in 2011, and the Guinness Record Certificate for the World’s Largest Collection of Telephones for 1,135 phones was received in early 2012. We still continue to add a few phones to the collection as they are available. Each phone is individually tagged, documented, and photographed with a distinct number and separate information on the phone. We maintain a picture book of all of the phones to help us in searching for new phones which we do not already have. A carved horse head phone was donated in 2012 from the collection to Kentucky Governor Steven Beshear, and Sheriff Jimmy Thomas of Pike County has a special one in a phone booth.
Most of the phones were purchased from Ebay. Many were purchased at yard sales, flea markets, and thrift stores. Some were given to us by friends for the collection. The highest price paid was $75.00 to a family member for an older Pillsbury Doughboy phone. The least price paid was 1 cent, with no shipping, for a phone purchased on Ebay. We set a limit on what we would offer as a bid, and stuck to that. Some phones sold for much higher prices than we could afford, up to $800 and above (for a matching Wonder Woman, that we did not win).
We hope to sell the collection, eventually, at base purchase cost to a local museum who can show them off to the public, or to a telephone company or executive who can keep the collection together and maintain the Guinness Record. Many of the phones are interactive and move around, as well as making special sounds when ringing, such as engines revving up on race car phones or musical instruments in a band. Some of the phones are historical, but most are novelty phones which fall into categories such as airplanes, cars, musical instruments, food items, motorcycles, sci-fi, etc. Some of the phones are One-of-a-Kind which were initially made by individuals for friends, etc., and they are particularly unique.
The library invites the public to view this display during regular library hours: Monday, Wednesday and Friday from 10:00-5:00; Tuesday and Thursday from 10:00-7:00; and Saturday from 10:00-3:00.