Posted 4 years ago
fortapache
(3420 items)
Found this at a yard sale which was my big exciting find for the yard sales Memorial Day weekend. It was $30 which is a bit more than I wanted to pay. It's a yard sale so I figure it would be $5 but still a good buy.
It seems to have the date 1944 on the schematic but a phone like this would generally be from the 1920s/1930. Lighter phones with smaller magnetos were in use during WWII. This one has a 5 bar magneto which is rather large. Plus the hand set is heavy. I have a similar phone that is circa 1928 which is a bit more advanced so I am thinking this could be a bit earlier.
The proper color for this phone should be olive drab. Someone stripped the paint on the front to reveal a very strictive oak underneath. The sides were painted black. Perhaps I should get some olive drab spray paint to restore it to the original appearance. And should it be flat or semi-gloss?
I bought two of this magneto box some years ago and they were paint olive drab.
Is it missing a crank ? Just love this.
Always flat olive drab for a war era phone. Gloss shines and reflects light and gives away your position
Since it doesn't sound like a scarce military item, I would strip the rest and go with the wood.
Thank you very much ttomtucker. Any clue on when this made?
Thank you very much Phil. Sadly missing the crank which is the most valuable part.
Thank you very much fhrjr2. Flat it is.
Thank you very much bb2. Decisions decisons.
Agreeing w/all the others -- a good snag on your part for a decent price, and good advice what to do with it if you don't wanna just leave it as is. One other thing I would wonder about is if its handset 'coil cord' is original or a replacement, I'd think (without knowing for sure) that it might have had a cloth handset cord at first...?? COOL OLD PHONE anyways about it!! :-) :-) :-) :-) :-)
Thank you very much AO. Pretty sure that cord is a replacement but then again....
Replacement parts are reasonable. House of Phones (or something like that) etc.
BB2 I have found some online but the price is still high. But I will keep looking. May just get another for the part. They part out for more than they are worth.
Been a few yrs. since I needed parts, but I found the stores that specialize on it were reasonable. (As I remember). Of course on Evilbay, you have people selling a single new .36 cal lead ball or a single flint for a flintlock for $20 ! Of course, I make my own shot and buy flints by 1/4 lbs cheap from the right people. Want to buy some flints for only $10 ea. ? LOL !!
bb2 I have finding cranks that will cost me $40 plus with postage. But as a collector everything will eventually be found at my price. Which would be a low price. I get a feeling a lot of sellers don't want to part with their stuff and have it on ebay just to say they are selling it even if it never sells.
I think, awhile back Evilbay added another 0 to all their prices. Need to look into that.
I think you are right. I wanted to spend some essential money and everything is $$$$$.