Remember these?

[DanM]

Every time I see a new color I pick it up. The prices on some of the rarer colors would provide a years service in the old days. Enjoy.

[philellis]

Oh wow, nice collection, I retired from the dark side in 2018 after almost 25 years, they wanted me to move too far away from home.

[Sierra_Roadrunner]

Lot of history there Dan. Black one in the center looks unique, is it an early wall phone? The red phone brings back memories of the Cold War era Presidential direct line from the White House to Moscow. All those look to be in great condition.

[lynn225]

I have a black one. I hooked it up to my landline... I could call out, receive calls... but couldn't get it to ring. I read something about how they are keyed to a local exchange signal, and ring signals are not the same in all areas.

[Majicwrench]

Lynn, how did you know when you recieved a call if it wouldn't ring?

We have a couple rolling around in the prop room, fun on stage when doing oldies.

[TwoCanoes]

When I was a kid our phone number was Myrtle 77324. I wonder what would happen if you asked Siri to dial it.

[BSAGuy]

We had a blue one when I was growing up. They weren't for sale. You had to rent them monthly from the telephone company.

[Gavercronos]

I remember a piss yellow wall hanging version from when I was five; one day in the early 1990s the phone company came and replaced it with a new dialtone one in whorehouse red. At the time, the change in dialing blew my mind. It had the square block of push buttons in the round hole where the dial on the old one would have been, but was otherwise the same. Mom specifically requested they leave behind the 30 foot cord the old one had. Years later the ringer on the red one broke and they replaced it with a boring white one, still with the push buttons in the round hole. They took the old cord this time so Mom couldn't walk around the house with it anymore- that was about 2005. All a moot point now- it's still there on the wall, but hasn't been used in years. Phone company never bothered taking it when the service was canceled.

[Whitegas Extraordinaire]

I remember my father getting a second phone but was too cheap to pay for the second one.
He disconnected the ringer so they couldn't tell we had two phones.

[lynn225]

Lynn, how did you know when you recieved a call if it wouldn't ring?

We have a couple rolling around in the prop room, fun on stage when doing oldies.

Had my wife stand next to me and call our landline from her cell. She told me when her cell indicated it was ringing... I picked up the handset and we were connected.

[DanM]

Lot of history there Dan. Black one in the center looks unique, is it an early wall phone? The red phone brings back memories of the Cold War era Presidential direct line from the White House to Moscow. All those look to be in great condition.

The black one in the middle has the holes in the back for wall hanging,but I have it free standing on a table top radio, the plating you see on it is in great condition.

[Stovie]

Somewhere as a kid I learned that one could dial 11911, and then hang up, which would get a "ringback". I used this to great effect to annoy my babysitters, just doing my part. Funny how you remember things like that.

[gwillmot]

Can you hear me now? .... calling from Robin Egg Blue "Princess" phone ....

[hikerduane]

I still use a rotary dial wall phone, upgraded my second phone to a touch tone so I could make some calls. Bought it off of the bay.
Duane

[Tgarner01]

We still have and use a pair of rotary phones... One table top and the other a wall hanger. Mainly there so we can hear the ring in the shop... I can still remember having a party line in the 90's too

[Whitegas Extraordinaire]

[/size]

We still have and use a pair of rotary phones... One table top and the other a wall hanger. Mainly there so we can hear the ring in the shop... I can still remember having a party line in the 90's too

1890s?

[Weirdnerd]

We had an avocado color one for many years at my moms house.

[outlawmws]

My oldest daughter used to take pics of pay phones as she noticed they were (and are) disappearing - almost all gone now. She still does on occasion - sometimes its just an empty booth, or wall shell thing.

I can remember seeing rows of pay phone booths in some public places like airports and hotels. Heck our mall had 4-5 at every exit.

[Stovie]

Here's some young-er folks - they have no idea how to place a phone call from a rotary phone. They were tasked with figuring it out. I won't spoil it for you. Do you think they were successful? Is your money on the guy with the backwards baseball cap?

[campinut]

Nope, doesn’t ring a bell....Russ

[critmass_34]

I have never thought about collecting them. When we still had a land line, I considered getting a rotary phone for use during power outages.

[camperfanatic01]

We had a black one, and a 30ft coiled cord so it could reach anywhere in the 1st floor of the house…. Lol…

Reminds me of old TV’s too where I was the remote control, and with rabbit ears with foil flags.

[graygable]

I bought this one in the 80's and was in use until a couple years ago.

[kellyblues]

We had that mauve one with 3339 in the middle. Yep, 4 digit phone number. Nice collection.

[TSPORT]

I saved my grandmother’s black rotary phone. We use cordless phones in our house but when the power goes out, no phone. Plug in the rotary and we’re back in business! Love that ring.

[macwacs]

I recently got rid of mine, it had a crank on the side and had not received a call in years.
RMW

[Hot_Diggity]

My last memory of those phones was calling Headquarters Marine Corps nearly every day. It was the most time consuming and tedious part of my job. I pictured hundreds of other career planners all over the World trying to call the same number, over and over and over, getting nothing but a busy signal. I finally started dialing the last few numbers slower. Maybe it helped me slip in a call at just the right instant, maybe it was just a coincidence, but I did start to get more calls through. That was back in the days when I could smoke cigars in my office.

[Emorr123]

Built in phone nook in my house.

[BSAGuy]

House I grew up in was built in 1956. It had a phone niche similar to the one above centrally located.

[Emorr123]

Yes this house was built in 1950.

[outlawmws]

I'm guessing the lights indicated "in use for the party line"?

[DougA]

Very nice assortment of phones! Phones are my main collecting/hobby vice and I have a bunch (well, a lot) of them hooked up around the house. Most are connected to the step switch I built, but others are connected to my landline. Yes, I still have a rotary dial phone on the wall in my kitchen ... and it works. Most years the weekend of the Gettysburg gathering has me nearby in Lancaster, PA for an annual phone collectors' show ... it's open to the public on Saturday so wander over if you're interested. https://www.telephonecollectors.org/sho ... /index.htm

The phone nook is awesome. The grandson of a friend bought a house recently with a phone nook in it. Of course he has no landline but I helped his grandmother get a candlestick phone to give him to put in the nook to look "authentic." The phone with the lights appears to be part of some sort of local system; never seen that particular configuration before.

[DanM]

Thanks DougA, I have quite a few more wood case Strowgers strewn about my home as well, my latest addition is a serviceman's model the tech would clip onto his belt when working up the pole.