Recently I thought I would broaden my horizon a bit in my telephone collecting by putting aside my model 500’s and 554’s.

I had picked up a couple of older sets a year or two ago and just put them on the shelf—hoping to get back to them later.

Finally I have been able to put together a nice Western Electric Model 202 with an attached ringer box. Some may look at this photo and say that I am mistaken, that the phone is actually a 102. However the designation of the telephone is not based upon the body style but actually in the way the telephone is connected to the ringer box, or wired. It is true that this telephone has a B1 base which normally is associated with a Model 102, but because I chose a 4-conductor desk stand cord, to connect the phone to the ringer box it becomes a 202, wired for “anti-side tone”.

This 202 with its B1 base has a very nice #4H dial. The dial gives the phone that great dialing sound that many people described as having a “clickety-clack” sound. I have been able to record the actual sound of this dial as well as the ringer on the box to which it is connected. Read the rest of this post »

I have been asked to describe the difference between the ring produced by a Western Electric model 500 era telephone versus the ring sound from a Western Electric model 302 telephone. It might be easier for you to listen for yourself. These two examples are generic recordings of ringers of each type, not the sound produced by the telephone shown in the photos. I refurbished this model 302 a couple of years ago as a gift to a family member. The white model 500 is from 1960. The ringer of the model 500 has a brass clapper. On the model 302 the clapper appears to be lead. A very different and distinct sound!

More than a year ago I attended a telephone show hosted by the TCI (Telephone Collectors International) in Mason, Michigan. The phone shows are an excellent place for collectors to gather and talk phones, display some of their telephones and to sell complete phones as well as parts to each other and to the public. While at the show I bought a box of “stuff”. All I wanted from the box was a Western Electric wall phone but the seller—phone collector and President of the TCI, Ray Kotke insisted that I had to take the entire box if I wanted the wall phone. The price was right, but what else was inside? Read the rest of this post »