Grammont wood and metal phone

[Doug Rose]

I have seen these in metal, but never wood and metal like this is. I found it in 2013 and came across the pictures looking for something else today.

With all the members from Europe, maybe someone can shed some insight on the wood version....thanks....Doug

[FABphones]

A nice model. French. Grammont c. 1920s.
(Manufacturer info as per the plaque, zoomed image below).

Your 2013 thread discussing this phone (reply #12 onwards):
http://www.classicrotaryphones.com/forum/index.php?topic=10256

Also:
http://alain.levasseur.pagesperso-orange.fr
(les postes a colonne)

[Doug Rose]

CJ...are the wood phones common? ...thanks...Doug

[FABphones]

These (wooden Column) phones are not uncommon but they don't appear for sale in abundance like the PTT24 model for example.

I see them come up for sale fairly regularly. From my observations it is important to buyers that the pieces match, sometimes they don't and it makes them a little less desirable.

[Doug Rose]

These (wooden Column) phones are not uncommon but they don't appear for sale in abundance like the PTT24 model for example.

I see them come up for sale fairly regularly. From my observations it is important to buyers that the pieces match, sometimes they don't and it makes them a little less desirable.

next question is, do the pieces match?

[countryman]

Yes, I think so. The mouthpiece should be rotated 180 degrees :-)

[Doug Rose]

Yes, I think so. The mouthpiece should be rotated 180 degrees :-)

thanks...I do appreciate

[Etienne]

French Modèle 1918. Production range approximately 1918- 1927 . Wiring diagram is available on the forum. Particularly Grammont seems to have produced them in many versions, metal, wood (oak, mahogany, walnut...), round, octagonal, the last one being the most common wooden Grammont 1918 from what I see on Ebay.
AOIP also produced a rare wooden version. I saw only one of these. AOIP had a unique design with the switch in the handset (cf forum).
Yours is complete and in excellent condition, with the special brown "bakelite" parts (handle & earcaps). These were available only on wooden versions but I have seen some wooden Grammonts with black handle and caps- looks better in brown on these.
What did you use to make them shine? Mine are rather rough and very hard, with a very thin finish layer.
Some are marked "Propriété de l'État" and were supplied by the PTT in towns where LB exchanges were being turned to CB. Production range is very short for a french phone (less than 10 years!) as they were designed without dials- a time when modernizing the network was made step by step with minimal costs. This short-term, stingy strategy, which went on in the 1930's with the choice of the "automatique rural" (small, rural exchanges in series leading automatically to a manual exchange in bigger cities) caused great damage and in the 1950's, the network was totally outdated and inefficient...
Wooden phones (mainly Marty 1910 and updates 1934 and 1940) in France were produced until at least 1943, when Martys were superseded by Laurents, then U43s- older designs were way too expensive to produce with wartime shortages.

[Doug Rose]

What did you use to make them shine? Mine are rather rough and very hard, with a very thin finish layer.

thanks for all the great information. It was covered with paint and was a mess. Fine steel wool and a lot of elbow grease.  Howardsrestorafinish covers many imperfections. I used Mahogany and was very happy the way it warned out.

Thanks for all the insight, it took me almost nine years, but I know so much more. ....Doug