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A peek into a French Collectors Workshop…

Started by FABphones, March 09, 2022, 05:40:23 PM

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FABphones

I stumbled across this article and TV interview with a French collector and thought you might enjoy a glimpse into a French telephone collector's workshop/téléphone room.

The collection contains some very, very, nice phones.

https://www.tf1info.fr/regions/video-portraits-de-collectionneurs-une-passion-pour-les-telephones-anciens-2167878.html

Synopsis of article:

Alain Grault collects old telephones. In his workshop he likes to tinker and repair what he has unearthed for 40 years. Today, he owns more than 150, all in working order, and knows the history of each one.

Telephones reflect an era and its fashions. In Alain's collection, there are colorful and flashy models from the 70s, those with original or slender round shapes from the 80s and 90s, or even Art Nouveau models from 1900. Some items are even related to art objects.

Moreover, telephony is also linked to memories...
...Alain tells the small and the big story. This is particularly the case with his collection of telephones from the First World War.

It is during exhibitions that he shares his discoveries with the public, but the only piece he can never move remains his telephone booth.


Screenshots below of some of the collection.
:)
A collector of  'Monochrome Phones with Sepia Tones'   ...and a Duck!
***********
Vintage Phones - 10% man made, 90% Tribble
*************

MMikeJBenN27

Saw one of those Type A handsets on E-Bay.  It was missing the diaphragm in the receiver end, so I was not willing to pay too much, as I don't know where I could get another one.

ReneRondeau

Quelle belle vidéo. Merci pour ce partage.

countryman

That's awesome! My French is not good enough to follow fluently but the pictures speak for themselves.
Alain's homepage is http://www.telephones-anciens.org/

Quote from: MMikeJBenN27 on March 09, 2022, 06:53:34 PM
Saw one of those Type A handsets on E-Bay.  It was missing the diaphragm in the receiver end, so I was not willing to pay too much, as I don't know where I could get another one.
Mike, you can cut your own diaphragms out of jar lids. The steel quality seems to be just about right. You only need to find one with a large enough flat center. When everything else works as it should, it will sound like the original.

Etienne

French phones: not always comfortable to use, sometimes perfectly weird design, but so very elegant. (end of the chauvinist interlude)