Im hooked on telephones

[persido]

I was out this morning looking for yard sales, I found this $5 phone at my first stop. An English couple was holding the yard sale.  They told me it is a British telephone from the 70s/80s. I think it neat....my 2nd find.

[TelePlay]

Nice phone. I needed a 1960 GPO phone for a stage play and with FedEx shipping ended up paying about $140 from an eBay UK seller.

Some of the members who live over the pond can tell you more about this phone.

Also, it may be necessary to slightly rewire it for US POTS use. Post pictures of the bottom and inside components.

BTW, you got the bug so start making room for the dozens of phones you will own in a very short time.

[twocvbloke]

It's a GPO 746, most likely a 1980s model, and definitely already converted to BT wiring, so would need de-converting to make it work on a 2-wire US line (documented elsewhere on the forum by myself)...

The dial isn't right, nor the dial card, seems someone made it up to look pretty rather than accurate, the finger wheel should be transparent, and the dial card should be the grey-topped one like this one below...

[gpo706]

Yes the fingerwheel and numberplate are wrong, but its a very nice 746 with the MK2 body, as 2CV said.

Its a very nice buy for the money you spent though, looks immaculate.

If you put pics of the base markings we will be able to ID year/manufacturer/refurb dates easy-peasy.

[persido]

A few photos of the bottom.....thanks for the info.

[twocvbloke]

It's a plastic-based one, I prefer the metal based models...

Still, it's earlier than I guessed being a 1978 model (I think the /2 refers to it being a Mk.2 plastic base), and it was made by Denis Ferranti Meters Ltd - Bangor, N. Wales, according to British Telephones...

[LarryInMichigan]

It is certainly worth well over $5 on this side of the pond.

Larry

[AE_Collector]

I needed a 1960 GPO phone for a stage play and with FedEx shipping ended up paying about $140 from an eBay UK seller.

OUCH! I have a couple of Ivory 746's here, one in Canada and one in USA. One of them would have been yours for about $30 and a flat rate USPS box for shipping.

Terry

[TelePlay]

I needed a 1960 GPO phone for a stage play and with FedEx shipping ended up paying about $140 from an eBay UK seller.

OUCH! I have a couple of Ivory 746's here, one in Canada and one in USA. One of them would have been yours for about $30 and a flat rate USPS box for shipping.

Terry

Yeah, OUCH! The guy who asked for the phone on stage did so about 10 days before opening night so I had it shipped 2nd Day FedEx. It was a play based in England so a US phone just wouldn't do.

The phone 1960 GPO 706 was about $78 US for the phone and the shipping was another $80. It has a solid black finger wheel with the correct card.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/290717549984

Twocvbloke helped me rewire it to US POTS standards and with my Teltone 4, had it ringing on the stage with the proper cadence at 25 Hz. They sound different than WE bells so went for a nice black one for realism on stage.

I got some of the money back in the rental but as always, when time is short in theater, any problem can be solved by throwing money at it. I wish he would have asked me two months earlier.

Here's a link to the original wiring schematic, thanks to twocvbloke:

http://www.samhallas.co.uk/repository/n_diagrams/0000/N806.pdf

Funny thing that came up was that an actor in the cast was amazed that the number card was correct - she was from England originally.

[McHeath]

5 bucks is a great deal on this very nice ivory 746.  Good eye.

[TelePlay]

May seem high to some but it's about what I paid to import one in a hurry from across the pond: $158.  

And my dial card was pristine - the value of $18, I guess.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/130776426993

[twocvbloke]

Now that's just a little too expensive for a 10-a-penny 1980s 8746 phone...