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my latest acquisitions

Micawber

Micawber

Well-Known Member
One more....

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falcon_ib

falcon_ib

Well-Known Member
Edward,

Your collection of often-overlooked items always amazes me, love seeing what you bring out of the woodwork. Do you use the vintage items you find like lamps, teapots, pencils, letterhead, etc? Do you plan on making the telephone operational?
 
Edward

Edward

Well-Known Member
falcon_ib said:
Edward,

Your collection of often-overlooked items always amazes me, love seeing what you bring out of the woodwork. Do you use the vintage items you find like lamps, teapots, pencils, letterhead, etc? Do you plan on making the telephone operational?
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thank you! its an odd hobby but a fun one! I use my sheaffer fountain pen from time to time but I have found in this day in age of texting, voice to text and instant messaging I rarely ever had to write anything down with pen and paper. I use my notes app on my iPhone! lol! two of my 1940s pencils are "sharpened" so I tested them out just because... but I don't want to wear them down so they just get displayed as well.... and because of using my iPhone I have no landline so no need to make the GPO functional. I have no way to test it unless I can find a friend who has a landline. even then I think these days you need a digital to analog converter box for it to work... not sure. this phone may still be functional but I do not know. its really just for my display. anything else I've collected is the same, I won't actually use up any of my vintage stationary. I do use the lamps.. they work great! I won't use my teapot for fear of crazing or cracking it. I wear my watches... the whale tale tape dispenser does have modern tape on it for when I need to use tape. my stapler functions but so far.. no need to staple anything lol! its amazing how the digital lifestyle has made so much obsolete. I guess one could say my vintage office desk is an Objet d'art in progress. lol! a slightly functional Installation art of the 1940s WWII period. :D Oh and the fan does work!
 
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Micawber

Micawber

Well-Known Member
Edward said:
Fantastic photos! I didn't have these... thanks! yes, I came across many American era phones with no dials as well, like you said, internal phone connections. I thought of getting one of those until this civi version came up for such a nice price.
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I do see the internal ones come up in the general sales from time to time around here. Being lumped in with the general house / factory / shop clearance stuff means they sometimes go for peanuts and never for the sort of price asked by the few specialist dealers. If I see one I'll try to grab it for you.
 
Carl

Carl

Well-Known Member
" you put the phone down first ...."
Remember those words when talking to the girlfriends ???? Lol
 
Edward

Edward

Well-Known Member
Carl said:
" you put the phone down first ...."
Remember those words when talking to the girlfriends ???? Lol
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yes! but I think it was more like "you hang up..." No you hang up first" "No you!"
"no you hang up..." "no YOU hang up..." "No YOOOOUUUUUUU hang up first!"
" okay on the count of three we both hang up.. one.... two.... three!"
" did you hang up?"

" no!" :D
 
Carl

Carl

Well-Known Member
Edward said:
yes! but I think it was more like "you hang up..." No you hang up first" "No you!"
"no you hang up..." "no YOU hang up..." "No YOOOOUUUUUUU hang up first!"
" okay on the count of three we both hang up.. one.... two.... three!"
" did you hang up?"

" no!" :D
Click to expand...
So damm true!! :D
 
Edward

Edward

Well-Known Member
Micawber said:
As you say you need the bellbox for that phone too ;)

One of mine...

View attachment 31731

I have a couple in use alongside modern ones in the house. Bellset is in the back hallway - proper old school.
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alright.. I guess I must enjoy living on Ramen Noodles, eggs and bananas... and not using any electricity... or driving anywhere but to work... I went ahead and grabbed up that bakelite GPO No. 26 bellset box for my GPO 232 phone. I have no idea if its in actual working order or even how to wire it up... especially for the US system but I did find a couple of forums on such issues and I can get help should I want it to function... in the meantime, the phone set is now complete and I will probably sandwich it properly to create the king pyramid style. the phone as you know utilizes just two captive screws at the bottom and it is very easily attached. now its a completed set for that fateful day when I want to sell it it should have more appeal and value. its supposedly a very early one dating to 1937. it is stenciled as such on the bottom with no further refurb date stamps so it should be all original but whether or not it works is the big question.
I did a lot of research and my decision was based on the fact that the No. 26 bellsets are very hard to come by and highly sought after and although I paid too much for this one its the only one I've seen made available to someone in the states. I doubt I will see one again and I didn't want to kick myself in the future for not just getting it when the opportunity was there. Jesus.... now I have to eat noodle soup for a month. :D
GPOBellset261.jpg
GPOBellset262.jpg
GPOBellset263.jpg
 
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