Santa came early, snagged a Galion on eBay this morning

[TelePlay]

Don't really need another North Galion, especially one with a 50 cycle ringer, but turned on the computer and there it was, BIN for $25 plus shipping ($38 total) with a very nice chrome, most likely original AE Cutaway finger wheel. Bought it within 30 minutes of being listed.

Phone seems to be in very good condition and except for the 50 Hz ringer, is a nice item. Lousy images but they do show a clean phone, including the base bottom.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/VINTAGE-8-50-NORTH-ELECTRIC-ROTARY-DESK-TELEHONE-/132039205264

[andre_janew]

The dial card sure is different!  I don't think I've seen a phone of any kind with a Gloversville dial card!

[TelePlay]

The dial card sure is different!  I don't think I've seen a phone of any kind with a Gloversville dial card!

I paid $25 for the dial, mostly the finger wheel, the phone was the free after that.

In a quick search of things, the TENproject Database, the only reference I can find in NY was a question posted asking what the rest of GL would have been. The person asking the question said the GL exchange was in some way related to Albany, NY.

The phone is being shipped from Hagaman, NY which is about 15 miles south east of Gloversville, NY. Albany is about 37 miles southeast of Hagaman, all of which are upstate from New York City by quite a bit.

Others may know more, or, better.

[Pourme]

You scored, John!...

What you said about the finger wheel is true. Mine has a #24 dial, which would cost you that much alone on most EBAY offerings I have seen lately, without the cutaway finger wheel. Plus it has a number cars and holder! Good buy! Good thing you saw it before I did!

Benny

[poplar1]

Note that "GLOVERSVILLE" is in all caps of equal size. It is not "GLOVERSVILLE."

This indicates that Gloversville is the name of a village or city, not the name of the central office.
The phone numbers would have been 5 digits only.

[poplar1]

In 1924, Gloversville was served by the Glen Telephone Co. of Johnstown, N.Y.

The Glen Telephone Co. served Johnstown, Broadalbin, Canajoharie, Fonda, Fort Plain, Glen, Gloversville, Lake Pleasant, Northville, St. Johnsville and Tribes Hill. There were 1700 Magneto and 9900 Common Battery stations (no Automatic lines).

Ref: Telephony's Directory of the Telephone Industry, 1924 edition.

[Russ Kirk]

Great find!

[poplar1]

This is the same seller that had the North phones with the AE Conversion Kits that Larry mentioned.

Present central office codes for Gloversville, NY, are 775, 773, and 725 in area code 518.
http://puck.nether.net/npa-nxx/test2.cgi?clli=GLVVNYXADS0

[LarryInMichigan]

This is the same seller that had the North phones with the AE Conversion Kits that Larry mentioned.

Present central office codes for Gloversville, NY, are 775, 773, and 725 in area code 518.
http://puck.nether.net/npa-nxx/test2.cgi?clli=GLVVNYXADS0

Yes, that is the seller who sold me the white North/Leich conversion phone, which is still working on my desk.  They had a black one for cheap the last time I looked.

Larry

[unbeldi]

Glen Telephone logo.

In 1975, the only prefixes for Gloversville were 725 and 773.  It was a tributary to Johnstown.
The area used 5-digit telephone numbers still until 1969. The telephone number for the Leader-Herald newspaper was 4-7171 until 1969, by January 1970 it was 725-8616.

You can search more  here, perhaps you'll find your number in the classified ads.

[TelePlay]

You can search more  here, perhaps you'll find your number in the classified ads.

Thanks!  Milton Coykendall   4-3924

[unbeldi]

Thanks!  Milton Coykendall   4-3924

Dang!  The power of the web.  But I have had similar success in the past.

Which issue contained that ?

I hope you didn't mistake it for the number 4-3924 in Ithaca NY, which was assigned to Milton Coykendall in the 1950s.  The name doesn't seem terribly common, but it's possible because there seems to be a concentration of them in Dutch New York, where the Koykendalls settled in the mid 1600s.

[TelePlay]

Aww, sucks, you caught me. There is no way I was going to read through all of those faded non-searchable pdf pages so, yes, I got that out of the Ithaca directory for 1954.

I'll spend some more time looking tomorrow when the light of better.

[unbeldi]

Aww, sucks, you caught me. There is no way I was going to read through all of those faded non-searchable pdf pages so, yes, I got that out of the Ithaca directory for 1954.

I'll spend some more time looking tomorrow when the light of better.

Aha!  :-)

The newspaper pages are actually searchable by themselves, offline, but I could not find a search function online.  It might be possible to download all of the files in batch after some research into the their URL syntax, but honestly, since it wasn't my phone, I let it pass, lol.

But I thought it was interesting how long that numbering plan persisted. That was my reason to going through the years.

[TelePlay]

The phone arrived last week in great condition. The bottom is so clean you could eat off of it, as they say. Only "dirt" is a bit of scotch tape residue on the top center of the handset and on the top of the housing just under the handset, must have been a funeral home/emergency/fire/cops sticker of sorts.

The photo below does not do it justice and yes, I was wearing a dark purple T-Shirt when I took the picture. More to follow as I dig into it next year ( tomorrow . . .  ? )