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Vintage Telephony and Telecomms Vintage Telephones, Telephony and Telecomms Equipment

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Old 12th Apr 2010, 1:23 pm   #1
ekcopyephilips
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Default vintage telephone

Hi all

Recently i have been struck on the idea that i would like to have a vintage bakerlite telephone.

Idealy i would like one of those pyramid ones in an art deco style, but they seem to fetch lots of pennies. So i think one from the 40s/50s with a chrome number selector and integrated bell. Must also have a braided cord to the handset and be able to be converted to work on the modern telephone network.

So my question is what is a suitable model to look out for and what sort of money should i expect to pay for a reasonable example. Also are modern inserts available to replace crackly microphone and earphone originals ?

Regards

Mike
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Old 12th Apr 2010, 2:06 pm   #2
Tim
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Default Re: vintage telephone

I have a 332 at home, and it works very nicely, once the mic and conversion was sorted. These were prior to the tele 706(50's-60's) and still work well.
It's the chunky Bakelite one with the round chrome switch hooks and chrome dial(dial 10 or 12) but can be found with modern plastic dial. Geniune GPO ones of these come up on E-bay now and then-but look out for modern Indian ones.
Check out this very forum for more info.
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Old 12th Apr 2010, 2:12 pm   #3
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Default Re: vintage telephone

Look out for a type 332 or 312 instrument. You may find one with braided cords, or it may have been refurbished (by the GPO) with plastic leads fitted. This doesn't matter, as braided leads are obtainable.

A 'proper' ex-GPO one in black will set you back (typically) £50 - £100, but you may get lucky and get one for less; it depends on your source. You may come across one made by Siemens, British Ericsson, ATE or GEC from an internal system, which, to all intents and purposes, will be the same. It is also possible to build one up from scrap units - again, quite acceptable (if you're not a purist). It can be argued that the GPO would have created the same effect when repairing a faulty instrument.

Coloured 300-series instruments command silly prices, reflecting their rarity.

Keep away from Portugese variants and those made by Indian Telephone Industries. They look sort-of similar, but are of inferior make; see here. I wrote a bit about converting handsets to use 'modern' components. Have a look here. It isn't difficult to do, and it works a treat.

For more information, read this page thoroughly. As well as all the relevant posts in this section, of course!
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Old 12th Apr 2010, 4:06 pm   #4
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Default Re: vintage telephone

Dont despair, i assume you are capable fo working your way around electronics as you are on this forum. You oculd get a junker 200 series telephone and re-wire and service it, my friend got one for £3 at the weekend, you may just have to bide your time. As russel said anything other than black go into silly prices. there are a few tatty looking 200 series on ebay at the moment that would not be a badc buy i reckon.
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Old 12th Apr 2010, 5:27 pm   #5
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Default Re: vintage telephone

As I said in another post, I've only seen one Bakelite telephone in the past three years at a car boot sale. Antiques Fair/Centre dealers seem to have had look at what on-line dealers are charging and have priced theirs accordingly, though at the weekend I did see a unused - in it's original box - GEC Junior Gecophone at £25 which SEEMED reasonable but it would be no use as a regular telephone though.

I think Ebay is about the best bet for, say, a black 332. There are plenty to chose from in the £50 - £100 bracket provided it turns out to be as described of course.

Regards, Lee.
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Old 12th Apr 2010, 6:06 pm   #6
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Default Re: vintage telephone

Another option would be to go for a GECophone - an instrument never sanctioned by the GPO, but used in places like Ireland and on internal systems. You get the 'Art-Deco' style, but with a built-in bellset; a nice instrument to have.

A GECophone may come cheaper, not having that cachet of an authentic GPO telephone, as would be found in Britain's homes of the 1920s / 30s.
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