Vintage Phones

[Pina Bridgette]

I think my Taj Mahal Ericofon/touchtone was from the oldphoneguy/oldphoneworks and it is in wonderful condition. I purchased it a few years ago but I'll see if I can track down if it was same seller.

 

[Atomic]

So I'm wiring the 500, finally got it to ring and now the handset won't pick up! I've got it to where I can either get it to ring, or I can get the hand set to work by moving the green network line between F/RR, and L1. I'm lost....

 

[Bingles]

My experience with oldphoneworks.com and my Leich 90

If I were to grade my experience with oldphoneworks.com, I'd give them a C. I ordered a Leich model 90 telephone with extended base (which housed the ringer and eliminated the need for a subset).

It arrived, and looked very nice right out of the box. They had cleaned it up well, cords were nice, and the dial worked flawlessly. I was able to dial out and receive calls with no problem.

I noticed that the ringer sound was surprisingly quiet, so I decided to open up the base to adjust the gongs and let it ring louder. To my surprise, there was little original to this phone as far as the "guts" went. A small - modern circuit board had been installed in place of the original workings - like what you would see in late model 500 phones. Also, the ringer consisted of a single bell.. again, a modern "upgrade".

I re-checked their listing, and they do advertise their phones as having a modern "network" so they will work on modern phone lines. I foolishly saw this and just thought they had modular plugs.

So it looks nice (I will post pictures eventually), works well, but is not 100% authentic.

I am also surprised (and this is just an observation of the phone itself) how light weight the spit-cup handset is. It is somewhat smaller than the handset on my former WE202, but it's surprisingly light. I've been so used to the heft of my WE303 that it feels a bit odd in my hands. [huh]

 

[zipcom]

Dear all,

I'm from Vietnam and I have the same interest for vintage rotary phones. I have some phones from several countries. I have this phone (in Vietnam we call it "deer type", because of the shape of the receiver holder), but I don't know exactly which model it is. As on the dial and back there's a "NT" logo, I guess it is from Canada.

Please give me some advice for this. Thanks a lot.

 

[ScionPI2005]

Dear all,

I'm from Vietnam and I have the same interest for vintage rotary phones. I have some phones from several countries. I have this phone (in Vietnam we call it "deer type", because of the shape of the receiver holder), but I don't know exactly which model it is. As on the dial and back there's a "NT" logo, I guess it is from Canada.

Please give me some advice for this. Thanks a lot.

No idea on the type, but I really like that one. Nice, classy dial!

 

[zipcom]

I found out this one is not from Canada. It's from Japan.

 

[Bingles]

Yet another one of my bad pictures.. lol

This time, my newly acquired WE Candlestick with ringerbox.

 

[ScionPI2005]

Yet another one of my bad pictures.. lol

This time, my newly acquired WE Candlestick with ringerbox.

Nice one Bing! Where did you find it?

 

[Bingles]

Thank you! It's from Ebay

 

[kwonashley31]

Everybody has reached to the saturated point and looks like the ancient tackles are coming up again.

 

[Hamletsghost]

Only have a modest 1936 steel case black Western Electric 302.
Have used it for years cuz I just couldn't abide the digitals my saintly wife likes.
Plus it's the same one that was in my Grandparents house.
Use it every day.
The sound & the feel of a great old phone just cannot be beat.
Plus MY 5 year old Grandson is just amazed by it.

(and the bells drive my cats nutz - he he)

 

[Mr_D.]

Wanted to share this link with you all. a good place for parts (or phones) if you need.

http://www.oldphoneworks.com/

 

[Mr_D.]

And here is my phone.

Got this at the flea market. The cord needed an end put on it and the dial was a little frozen. They guy had it marked $20 but let me have it for $10

I took the dial off and WD-40'd it and put an end on it. Works like new.

After looking up some information about it. it is a WE model 500 1959 I assume from the numbers on the bottom (a big 59 and under that 2-59. I am assuming that's Feb 1959).

I printed out and replaced the Bell System logo for the dial.

 

[Mr_D.]

I believe I read it's required that phone companies provide outward dialing for rotary phones. I plugged mine in and dialed right out. Hve you ever dialed someplace like the electric company and the recording says 'If you have a rotary phone, stay on the line,'?

I've noticed that the recorded messages that you hear now don't include the part about 'staying on the line if you have a rotary phone' anymore. I've had to hang up and switch to a push button phone. Very frustrating....

Where I live (currently) we have to dial 9 to get an outside line. The rotatory does this just fine. I pick up the phone I hear the beep of the inter system. I dial 9 and when the rotatory gets back around to its stand by position I get a dial tone and dial out. So I wonder if this would work for automated systems?

 

[Bingles]

You can also purchase a Dialgizmo: http://www.dialgizmo.com/faq.html You plug your rotary into the gizmo, and the gizmo into the phone jack. This way, the pulse dial from the rotary is converted to touch tone signals. I had to get one for an old candlestick that wouldn't register on a router I have that connects my old phones to my cell line.. it works great!

 

[Black Dahlia]

I have two dial phones in my flat (in working order), similar to this.

I've seen some beauties recently, but they were out of my price range! I want a two tone one, like below.

X
BD

 

[BinkieBaumont]

English 300 series in Ivory coloured bakelite

 

[Lily Powers]

This is our vintage phone - a Western Electric WE 151AL with a WE 4H dial (yeah, I can write it all down, but I have no idea what it means). The phone is sitting on the ringer box in the photo, but the ringer box and phone are two separate units. It's all original (except for the cloth on the cords) and works in modern modems. The dial absolutely fascinates the cat more than anything else (non-edible) in the house.

 

[AtomicEraTom]

Until I read the second part, I was so impressed you knew what a 4H dial was!

 

[Lily Powers]

Until I read the second part, I was so impressed you knew what a 4H dial was!

What I lack in technical knowledge, I make up for in forthrightness.