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From: gabe@sirius.ctr.columbia.edu (Gabe Wiener)
Newsgroups: comp.dcom.telecom
Subject: Re: Telephone History: For Sale?
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Date: 23 Sep 89 17:20:22 GMT
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Reply-To: Gabe Wiener 
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X-TELECOM-Digest: volume 9, issue 401, message 2 of 5

In article  Kent Borg  writes:
>My question is where might I buy an 11-hole Stowger dial phone, or a
>Western Union clock?  (Would be sooo much fun to synchronize it to
>WWV.  Both the historian and techno-nerd in me start drooling at the
>thought.)  How about simply the oldest dial phone which will still
>talk to a modern switch, or an even older non-dial phone which will
>ring and let me answer?

>Must I just go look through the regular antique channels, or are there
>better ways?  I might have just acquired an expensive taste...

Ummmm....welcome to the realm of antique telephone collecting (one of
my hobbies).  An 11-hold strowger phone will probably run you about
$1,500 if you can find one.  They're quite rare and very sought after.
The only way you'll find one through regular antique channels is by
pure luck, and if you do, you'll probably pay $50 for it because in
all probability, the proprietor will have found it at a junk sale and
not know the value of what he has.  I had such luck only once...when I
bought a Western Electric 506 switchboard from 1918...working, with
magneto, worth well over $1,000, for a mere $75.

Dial service has not changed in principle since around 1892, and thus
even an 11-hole strowger unit would talk to a modern switch, though
you might need to put a mini-network inside.  Telegraph-key strowgers,
and there are less than 1,000 of those in the world, will NOT talk to
a modern switch for obvious reasons :-) You can use any rotary dial
phone on a modern switch pretty easily.

Telephones of the '20's, '30's, and '40's, as well as payphones from
that genre (even payphones with separate transmitters and receivers)
are quite readily available at good prices from Phoneco in Galesville,
WI).  Phoneco buys the surplus from telephone companies and sells it
mail order.  Mostly they'll sell old phones to telephone stores who
then mark them up tremendously, but they'll be glad to sell to an
individual.  For a nominal fee, they will also install a network
and/or ringer into any phone that doesn't have it and make it work on
a modern system.  They have phones of all periods, from crank-magneto
through modern touchtone.  But it's very doubtful you'll find anything
from them that's much older than a 1907 Bell System magneto wall-set
(still a truly charming phone...that's the typical crank phone you see
in the movies).

They also have lots of surplus telephone company equipment...switchboards,
rolls of wire, test sets, etc. (I got a working bell system test set
(rotary) for $25 from them.

One of their main trade items, however, is the payphone.  They buy
truckloads of them, from all periods.  Besides selling 'em to phone
stores and to folks who either collect them or who just want a
payphone, they also do an interesting thing.  They will insert a
circuit board if you want that will allow an old three-slotter to
function as a COCOT, all for around $400.

There are other places as well to get antique telephones, such as the
House of Telephones in Texas, another mail order firm.  But you should
keep in mind that if you want _really_ esoteric stuff, or really early
stuff, there are only two ways to get it.  One is to prowl the antique
shops in search of a dealer who doesn't know the value of what he has
(and as I said, this happens quite often).  The other is to join one
of the antique telephone societies, such as the Antique Telephone
Collectors Association.  They have classifieds galore of people
looking to buy, sell and trade.

BTW, speaking of Phoneco, the operator, Ron Knappen, publishes a
guidebook to old telephone equipment that is the bible for collectors.
In two volumes (plus a price-guide), it has pictures and descriptions
of virtually every telephone made in this country (and abroad, for
that matter).  It also has pages and pages of excerpts about telephone
history, sich as the development of the dial, the independent
telephone companies, etc.  A truly indispensable book that will soon
itself be worth something.  The stock on the book is running out, and
I don't think there is quite enough demand to warrant another
printing.  So if you want one, get it now.  I think it's around $40.

I may be rambling at this point, but I hope I've provided an answer to
your question.  By the way, it is unlikely that Phoneco will have an
11-hole strowger telephone! :-)

Gabe Wiener - Columbia Univ.  "This 'telephone' has too many shortcomings
gabe@ctr.columbia.edu          to be seriously considered as a means of
gmw1@cunixd.cc.columbia.edu    communication. The device is inherently of
72355.1226@compuserve.com      no value to us."