I bought some phones from the Knotty Pine auction back on Dec. 7, and the phones just arrived today. The phone I was most interested in was a Gray - Western Electric Payphone. I don't know much about these phones, so it's hard for me to tell how authentic it is. I think this is a PhoneCo phone, but how hard would it be to make it original? The phone has a nice powder coat paint job with only a few chips. Powder coating lays on a little heavy, but does look nice.
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It is a phoneco phone. He had backs and even vault housings reproduced. The upper housing might be original.
Its hard to tell, unless you really look at it. The vault door doesnt seem original either
I agree that this was assembled by phoneco. However, not all the parts are repro: phoneco repro lower housings say "Western Electric Company Inc" -- not "Gray/Western." And this is an old cast iron back; the repro backs are smooth.
If this is a "double lip" upper housing, then it's not a repro either.
Back is a real, cast back it appears,bottom is original but has A/E coin return and repro frame that says coin return. It is a cast upper with all the gong brackets and strip mounts ground off to except a later chute. Phone should be heavy you can tell what is real and what is fake by weight.
Chute is A/E lock is 10L rekey end probably gutted vault dood it is hard to say. Flat door repros can be very good. Nothing on it is phoneco.
What is the correct way to mount this on the wall. Can I screw it to the wall as is? I notice you use some kind of back board to mount yours.
It was mounted in a booth or on a 144C or 144D wood backboard. 144C took wood screws to attach it to the backboard. 144D took machine screws 1/4 20 or standard payphone machine screws, the difference is the later board had fitting for the machine screws. the backboard also accommodates a subset. True W/E backboards are stamped on the back.
Thank you. I just picked up a 144D.