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Old telephone stickers

Started by TelePlay, January 16, 2011, 10:37:49 PM

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guitar1580

Those skeleton keys look awesome on that dial wheel ring!

About the stickers - I hate the imprint left behind after years of uneven fading / discoloring.... known as a "tan line" on guitars when removing old pick guards.

I've had a few on light colored wall phones that were impossible to polish completely out ... without sanding.

Josh P

Phoniac

Quote from: Sargeguy on January 18, 2011, 08:47:25 PM


Now that's an "Old Telephone Sticker"

I think old folks put these on their phones so that whoever found them would know which funeral home to call.

Geez, with that said I'm glad I got this hanging near the phone. Maybe when my kids find my dried up old corpse lying on the floor they'll know who to call.

AE_Collector

Does anyone know how to dial the "Fire" or "Emergency" numbers with the magneto crank on that Oak Subset?

Guarantees they will think of you "fondly" as a phone collector whren they try to figure that out!

Terry

Jim Stettler

Quote from: ae_collector on January 19, 2011, 02:23:24 PM
Does anyone know how to dial the "Fire" or "Emergency" numbers with the magneto crank on that Oak Subset?

Guarantees they will think of you "fondly" as a phone collector whren they try to figure that out!

Terry

Swing open the front door and use the TT pad inside.
Jim
You live, You learn,
You die, you forget it all.

Doug Rose

I have never been a fan of the stickers on phones. I try to make mine look as new as possible, so the stickers are out. BUT...I have removed stickers from phones and found the phone had faded, when they looked fine to the naked eye, so the sword does cut both ways. ....Doug
Kidphone

Dennis Markham

I've got one of those rotary dial key fobs too....like the one DougPav posted earlier.  Also a couple of dial center Ads.

Wallphone

Nice dial centers Dennis. I always liked those kind with the window in them. I didn't take a very good picture of my key fob but if you look close you will see that it is from a mortuary. Of the four dial rings that I have one of them was on a phone that was listed on eBay. I didn't want to buy the phone just for the ring but when the phone didn't sell I asked the seller if he would take the ring off and sell it to me for a couple of bucks. It was nice of him to go through the trouble to do this. I couldn't stop at one because you can't call one a collection, but four is enough. And even though I don't need any more, (what does NEED have to do with it?) whenever I see them on eBay I have to look to see where they are from. I haven't seen any good ones lately, most are from car dealers and one was from some guy running for City Magistrate or something like that. Now who would put that one on your phone unless he was a relative of yours?

Dennis Markham

Doug, that's a good story about getting that ring from the person selling the phone.  That was nice of him/her to sell you just the Ad ring.  They must have advertised those in a trade journal or something.

I like you key ring. Hmmm.....maybe I'll start looking for those to collect.  I bought a phone from back East and months later the seller remembered me and sent me an e-mail about that key ring I posted.  She asked if I'd like to buy it so I did.  It would be fun to have several.

Regarding yours, that funeral home is still in business.  And they even have the same phone number still.

http://www.funeralplan2.com/chapman/

Wallphone

So they are still in business, well maybe I'll have them come pick me up when I kick the bucket. I've always wanted to do some traveling, and that would be my last chance.  ;D

paul-f

Doug,

Thanks for reminding me about the dial rings.  I've pulled them off sets for years and haven't paid much attention to them.  I found several hanging on a bracket in the basement.  It's interesting to see the variation in shapes, materials and topics.

Anyone collecting these is welcome to contact me privately.  I'm sure I have more than I need.

Also found two sample kits, apparently used to sell the rings with advertising imprints.
Visit: paul-f.com         WE  500  Design_Line

.

m1898

#25
Dennis, nice handcuff key on your keyring. My key isn't so nice looking.
"Oh lord it's hard to be humble, when you're perfect in every way. I can't wait to look in the mirror, I get better looking each day"

Dennis Markham

Quote from: m1898 on December 13, 2011, 06:51:38 AM
Dennis, nice handcuff key on your keyring. My key isn't so nice looking.

It works great for people with fat fingers....something one can hold on to.

GG



I also heard that the funeral homes ran the ambulance services in many areas.  That would make sense from the perspective of fleet management since the basic vehicle was the same: typically a Cadillac with the special bodywork at the back. 

But yes, it could be a bit of a conflict of interest.  Go pick up that cardiac case and take him to the hospital now?  Or wait a few more minutes and get to do the whole funeral?  Hmm, decisions, decisions....

Re. stickers: I take them off; they are usually in tatty shape to begin with, and they were not original equipment:-)

Re. dial centers: the GPO practice of having the emergency number on every dial center is very sensible, even if everyone knows it's 999 (or 911 over here).  French PTT also included a bunch of other ones such as Directory inquiries, Telegrams, and so on, all 2-digit numbers.  Germany typically had two emergency numbers, Fire and Police, on their dial centers.  But I'd just as soon not see more advertising clutter for funeral parlors, or liquor stores that deliver, or whatever.

I'm surprised that Alcoholics Anonymous didn't do a counter-advertising thing as a sarcastic criticism of the liquor delivery ads in the dial centers: "Prevent a relapse: Don't take that first drink: call 5-4321 (or whatever)." 

GusHerb

The local funeral home in my town STILL runs an ambulance service out of the place. kinda creepy to think about for sure...
Jonathan

twocvbloke

Thank goodness us brits only have to dial 999 for ambulances!!!  :D