Polish PZT CB-35, circa 1938

[countryman]

This relatively rare Polish phone found me. It's a PZT CB-35 / 24. It has a pressed steel shell - I somehow like this concept! It's not heavier than a Bakelite phone, but more rugged. The design isn't bad either?!
PZT has it's own Wikipedia article (Google will translate from Polish).

The phone came in OKish condition minus a wrong handset and a part of the cradle broken off. The dial was stuck. It's an Ericsson type dial, but with slight differences from a replacement I would have had. The contact springs were bent and worse, the main spring broke off. I heated the end of the spring with a small torch to soften the steel and form a new hook. That worked so far and the shortened spring now does what it should. But getting it back into the housing was quite a job! I have rewound a couple springs now but this one was nasty. Don't ask for pics - I do not plan to open that one again!

When I washed the shell the next surprise came. The phone started bleeding, literally! I suspect the steel was primed with red lead. Where the black enamel is slightly cracked or chipped, water will start dissolving the lead. I quickly dried up the shell, for the phone's health, and mine, too. I then touched up the few chips with bitumen paint.

The phone should originally have a handset that is quite similar to a German W28 one, but with a speaking tube. For now I put on a W28 (with a hemispherical cap). I will see what I can do about the cradle. It looks quite thick and solid, but seems to be made from a quite brittle type of cast alloy. I might try and drill a hole where it broke off and thread a screw into it, then model Milliput putty around it and paint.
All in all I think 28 Euros delivered weren't too much for this unusual and quite fancy phone.

I will add a thread to the diagram section as well.

[Doug Rose]

that is one sharp looking phone. I have never seen anything like it....Doug

[tubaman]

Very nice and certainly not a model I've seen before either.
I would be tempted leave the cradle as is, as if it's a poor quality cast alloy it will be difficult to do much with without further potential damage.

[Jim Stettler]

Very nice and certainly not a model I've seen before either.
I would be tempted leave the cradle as is, as if it's a poor quality cast alloy it will be difficult to do much with without further potential damage.

I agree with tubaman. The phone shows well as it is, I would avoid
'fixing it till it breaks'

That is a nice looking set.
You should put it in the FOTM for October.
JMO,
Jim

[countryman]

Thanks guys. I will leave the cradle as is. You are right, even if a replacement part might be fabricated and attached, the color would never match.

For completion, the decal on the back refers to the Polish company PAST. It operated telephone networks in a number of Polish cities and was owned partly by the state and partly by the Swedish Cedergren company, hence the link to Ericsson technology. Cedergren/PAST built Warsaw's first high-rise building in 1908. With the German occupation the company was disseized 1940. Post-war it went up in the Polish PTT.

I will consider a nomination for FOTM. There is a very nice European phone nominated already...

[tubaman]

Thanks guys. I will leave the cradle as is. You are right, even if a replacement part might be fabricated and attached, the color would never match.
...
I will consider a nomination for FOTM. There is a very nice European phone nominated already...

I think you've come to the right decision on the cradle.
With respect to FOTM, yours is a very nice European phone too. You have to be in it to win it after all.

[FABphones]

I will see what I can do about the cradle. It looks quite thick and solid, but seems to be made from a quite brittle type of cast alloy. I might try and drill a hole where it broke off and thread a screw into it, then model Milliput putty around it and paint...

Never seen one of these. A very attractive design, very Rubenesque.

Re the cradle, just out of interest I would take a mold of a good cradle ear (firstly I would try using sand), then try to cast it in lead (which will melt over a heat source such as a gas ring for example). Although a soft metal it would be interesting to see how well it matched up. If you wanted to progress further you could add a 'wire skeleton' into the mold for additional strength. Quite a bit of work involved getting it right but it would be a fun project even if it didn't turn out well.

Whilst all that experimentation was going on I wouldn't do anything to alter the cradle at this stage, too much 'unknown' and room for error. And it displays nicely as is - quite majestic, a very nice and unusual find. Well spotted. 

[countryman]

...a very nice and unusual find. Well spotted. 

Thanks FABphones 
Funny part is, a person inquired about this phone in an Australian (!) Facebook group. I did a quick search to confirm it was Polish, as the owner had suspected. 5 minutes later I saw the same type of phone in a new classified ad in Germany (and no it was not one and the same phone).
I have looked at quite a number of sales adverts over the last 3 years and I am also quite sure that I never saw this type before.