From the mists of time ...
Big, heavy, Black, beautiful bakelite ....
From the early (ish) days of telephony for the masses, not sure if this was used with a manual instrument or a phone having a metal rotary dial.
I am working through another box of my 'telephone bits & pieces', along with ALL the other stuff that needs to find new, caring folk who are interested in "how things used to be"
For the "bakelite collector" or someone who would like to restore their old bakelite telephone instrument.
Bakelite was the predecessor to "modern plastics" and used extensively pre-1960's
This handset should be considered for parts only value, components are missing! The transmitter capsule and cap are NOT supplied although some mounting metalware is ...
The receiver is a mystery ... why so? Because the receiver end cap is 'stuck fast', no matter what I do, I cannot budge the receiver cap. It does not look to be cross-threaded and certainly there are no cracks in the body. I even tried the old trick of a good 'thump' with the palm of my hand and trying to rotate under pressure from my hand (commonly used with transmitter caps in the 'old' days) but this didn't work either.
I do not know what is inside, I have peered through the sound holes and I can see what appears to be the round metal plate that sits just above the receiver magnet poles. That's about all I can tell you in this regard.
I am of the belief this is a British handset although the identification on the handset is sparse, the only number I can find on the body is 22, stamped into the transmitter base (where the 3x bolts are embedded into the body)
I have positively confirmed the body as being all bakelite, a quick rub test shows up the tell-tale Brown/Yellow residue and that distinctive smell of formaldehyde - yummy!
BLACK BAKELITE TELEPHONE INSTRUMENT - HANDSET ONLY (incomplete)
SPARE PARTS VALUE ONLY
Circa 1940's ~ 1950's
I particularly like the 'stepped' design of the receiver.
The ONLY items supplied are these:
Main handset body
Receiver screw cap (stuck hard!)
Transmitter body (but NO cap)
Mixed bunch of hardware to suit
As mentioned above, it is quite likely that the receiver magnet and top plate are inside, I just cannot get inside to confirm this!
COSMETIC CONDITION:
USED
CLEAN
NO cracks
NO chips
The bakelite is shiny
A nice 70+ year old example of bakelite, before the advent of modern plastics or useful as a telecommunications historical piece for display or restoration of other similar telephones.
