Hi all
I picked up this phone today (I’ve always. always wanted one). I wanted it just to have around, haven’t really thought of using it. The shop also has the phone’s original box. Living in a small space, I don’t have room for too much unnecessary stuff. But I’m wondering, how much would I regret passing up on the box? They are asking $100 US for the box - which might be good or not, there isn’t an overabundance of antiques around here (BC Canada). I don’t have a land-line anymore, so nothing really to connect the phone to anyway.

Thanks for your thoughts!

 

I don't know anything about phones, but from an aesthetic point of view, I would love that box, so I would probably have bought it already (after checking prices for comparison)

 

If you want the phone to ring, gotta have the bells.

Now, the practicality/cost may not warrant conversion to actually make it work as a phone in this digital age.

But there are phone collectors that have probably done it. Try YouTube


Nice candlestick telephone and it appears speaker cone is unbroken.

 

I would always be inclined to keep original pieces together.

 

I wonder if you could set it up to work as an intercom. Of course you would need something for the other end.

 

I have a working antique candle stick got it at the Alameda antique fair the seller called him self the phone jack. He passed away I heard. He had a few working pay phone thought about getting one of those and charge any one who wanted to use my house phone.


I had to use a double jack so the phone and ringer went in the same plug to ring. Since I live in the boonies I still have a phone line as back up to the cell phone. It sounds like a fire alarm when it rings.

 

Answering my own question with a Google search. Yes with another magneto phone you could easily build an intercom.

http://www.classicrotaryphones.com/forum/index.php?topic=18709.0

 

I knew a fellow who had one of these, from his grandfather I think, who had it wired to connect directly to an old fashioned desk phone in his guest house - but he came from an old and apparently largely intact Hollywood mega-fortune so I daren't contemplate what he spent on it.

 

I am old I remember when all there was was the land line. Remember using pay phone in a phone booth. Every gas station would have a phone booth. They would have them on the pier when in the Navy.

 

I’m not that old (I don’t think), but I do remember vividly when the pay phone in front of my middle school was updated from rotary to push button- I stood there and stared at it- it was so futuristic...square and with push buttons! We still had rotary at home, buttons were fancy like at offices.

I say get the box for $100, maybe talk him down to $75 since now he doesn’t have the phone anymore. Wall mount it and it’s an object d’arts.
Since it’s not a rotary dial, you can’t really call on it (was from back in the day when you asked to be connected by an operator) unless you can tap out the number on the switch...which if you are really cool, you could do.

 

Yah, I’ve watched some YouTube videos where someone’s connected to to a home phone, it does look like fun. Maybe I’ll set it up as my speaker and mic for Zoom calls

 

I mentioned this to my wife. She rolled her eyes. Apparently I have to work harder to show her that would be fun or useful in our 2 bdrm condo

 

Its only a bell box... they are not that uncommon. If you want one in future you will find one.

You got the best part!!!

 

That brings back memories. I grew up in a rural farming area in Canada, where each township still had local exchanges, where there were operators who had to connect you if you wanted to call long distance. You could dial direct for local calls and all of the roads were on party lines. If someone called you in the middle of the night, everyone's phone on your road would ring but there was a code, so if it was 3 long and 2 short rings, only you would pick that up, wheras 1 long and 2 short may be your neighbor's. You had to be very careful and cryptic with anything you said, as you never knew who was listening. I lived in the main town, so we had private lines but my friends out of town, still had the old systems that were gradually upgraded in the 1970's and 80's. One of the townships, Mariposa, still had one room school houses from kindergarten until grade 8 until the early 1970's when the new school was built.

 

Rotary dialed phones and party lines were all apart of growing up for me. Always hated calling someone with a lot of 0’s or 9’s in their number as it took so long...

 

@DaveK

We live in an old house. Two out of three shown here still work. The old one could be converted, I suppose. Our landline is for my father in law, an old lady in town who always calls for leather work, and telemarketers. And yes, that’s Liberace!

 

Have seen so many of these phones converted to a lamp in the last 12 months.

Upcycled antiques ( how to turn a $20 old phone into a $300 kitsch lamp )

 

Had a candlestick (chrome) for about 40 years that I recently sold. I used it as an extension, but that was with a landline. It worked fine, although you couldn't dial or hear it ring, you could still talk and listen. The effect was a little like a tunnel but fine. After 40 years, I sold it for 100. They aren't that valuable, but they are fun. It is a visceral experience that allows you to sense a different era. You should be able to find a use if you'd like. Otherwise keep it for 40 years and sell it for 100.

One more story. We used to have land lines with a dial up, just for fun. My daughter's friend was at the house and didn't have a cell phone because it was still a time when elementary kids did not get phones. We told her she could use the dial up to phone her parents. She picked up the receiver and held it up to her ear upside down. I really felt aged at that moment. Of course she wouldn't know, but it was something that we all used to know without thinking.

 

Thanks for sharing. Mariposa is in a beautiful part of the country. I remember my dad telling me stories about the party lines, as wonderful as it was to have them, it must also been quite the gong show. My mom worked for Bell as a switchboard operator for a while. Back when the operators manually connected one cable to another to complete the call. Her supervisor would roam the isles smacking the employees with a ruler if their posture wasn’t correct, and if they made a mistake...

 

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