MIDDLEBOROUGH, MASS. — In their past few sales, White’s Auctions has been dispersing a collection of rare telephones. Included in the firm’s December 10 sale was a Phelps double crown example, which earned $23,180 and the highest price of the day; three of the four highest prices lots in the sale were telephones. These phones were made of hard rubber, between 1878 and 1880; you probably would not recognize it as a telephone. A comparably rare Bell Telephone Company long distance telephone transmitter, the first form of a commercial long-distance transmitter that was made in 1886, earned $15,680. Examples of both of these phones are in the collection of the Smithsonian Museum. An early Berliner Edison transmitter also did well. The sale included several lots of silver, jewelry, gold and other coins and Twentieth Century paintings. Prices quoted include the buyer’s premium as reported by the auction house. A full report will follow.