A vital clue is missing, urgent news that has to be communicated without delay………………
For sheer nostalgia and quintessential elegance, nothing can quite replace the charming ring of a GPO bakelite telephone. This always makes me think of Agatha Christie’s Poirot, the famous Belgian detective, who often receives news of the latest crime, or facts that support the theory of his “little grey cells” that are busy solving the latest mystery.
Poirot receiving vital news on the beautiful bakelite telephone
I adore these Bakelite telephones, the sound of the bell ringing, the feel and weight of the receiver, the flex cord.
Quite honestly, they look beautiful, sound beautiful, and are beautiful! On my hunt for a vintage telephone of my own, I discovered Antique telephones, run by the very helpful Neil and Alison Carpenter. The passion for the restoration of these lovely telephone is palpably expressed on their web site, the admiration for the art and elegance of these lovingly restored telephones – it emanates from every description, and the quality shines through.
Perhaps you’re thinking that these telephones are now unpractical, redundant, as you have to sit when you are speaking to someone.
I would argue that this renders the case to be quite the opposite – it’s why we need more of these beautiful telephones back in service. The sheer joy of using these antique telephones renders you unable to do other things, the mere act of being required to sit, and ahem, shock, listen to the caller……means that you’re having a genuine interaction, one where you are focussing all of your attention on the discussion, creating an authentic conversation that is meaningful, that’s a gift indeed.
Top of the list for my next purchase is this is a very beautiful ivory GPO 1/232 with drawer.
And Neil and Alison Carpenter give you a lifetime guarantee, it’s difficult to better that offer. Do mention Tea with Mary Kate if this is how you were inspired to contact antique telephones. They are a wonderful and original gift for any occasion.
Beautiful and practical original GPO bakelite Ivory telephone
Now here’s a bit of history and the original Bakelite technological innovation……
Ericsson’s bakelite telephone, launched in 1931, was primarily known for its trend-setting design, but it also contained an important technical innovation called anti-side tone coupling – for the first time, a differentially coupled speech transformer was used that reduced interference from the microphone, resulting in a significant improvement in speech quality. In addition, the dial, the microphone and the earpiece were of a new design.The bakelite phone was also produced as an extension phone, which had a smaller case, since it did not include a bell. The extension phone was very popular in offices, two-story homes and bedrooms, where people did not want to be disturbed when the telephone rang but still wanted to be able to make calls.
Engage in listening on your bakelite telephone
Mary Kate … I have a quiet, bubbling obsession with these phones, so much so that a few years ago I demanded that Father Christmas bought me one. I was about 26 at the time … but F.C must have received the message loud and clear as I found one under the tree on Christmas morning.
It was a gorgeous, black, reclaimed bakerlite telephone. The hand piece could easily have doubled up as a lethal weapon, it was so heavy. I plugged it in and when it rang, we practically all died of heart attacks. It was SO LOUD!!!! But I did love it.
Sadly though, in our age of touch dial phones, it wasn’t long before I realized that my phone just wasn’t going to hack it. I couldn’t get an answer machine and every time I wanted to do anything with touch dial, had to revert to the old phone.
Now my bakerlite beauty sits in pride of place on the shelf, looking dignified and gorgeous compared to it’s small, cream, modern, smugly touch dial counterpart. Humph!
thanks for your thoughts…I so love the ring, I have mine in service all the time!