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Number cards and phone history

Started by AL_as_needed, April 11, 2016, 08:56:43 AM

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AL_as_needed

Now I know in terms of what someone wants from a phone in terms of originality varies from matching everything to parts correct/ascetics only, but what of number cards?

I have read on here that there are a fair number of you who make their own for personal numbers, but how many feel what came with the phone should be kept with the phone? Has anyone ever tried to track down the old owner based one the number? Or simply tried calling the number to see who picks up? 

Just curious.
TWinbrook7

WEBellSystemChristian

I personally use the original card if it's still on the phone, otherwise I print photocopies of real cards from Telephone Archive. Others make their own cards, but I prefer to use the real thing or at least a printout of a real card to make the phone look totally authentic.

http://www.telephonearchive.com/numbercards/index.html
Christian Petterson

"Whether you think you can or think you can't, you're right" -Henry Ford

unbeldi

Number cards can be a great source of information and joy for researching the history of a telephone.
They add a story and life to what is otherwise simply a piece of dead instrumentation.

Other than when I find a telephone with certain hard to find or unique technical features, it is the geographic or personal history that is contained in an original number card, that makes me buy a find.

We have many such examples on the forum, I am just citing a few that I can easily find and that show what can be found in a number card:

- Amazing how much can be found in a dial card holder
- 1939 Ivory 302— Rediscovered
- Interesting 4H dial detail
- http://www.classicrotaryphones.com/forum/index.php?topic=15975.0

I have even found a 1930's classified add in a Brooklyn newspaper archive that the owner of a candlestick I found had placed, so I know the exact address when my phone once operated and the building is still standing today, right across the street from one of the corners of Prospect Park in Brooklyn.



Quote from: AL_as_needed on April 11, 2016, 08:56:43 AM
Now I know in terms of what someone wants from a phone in terms of originality varies from matching everything to parts correct/ascetics only, but what of number cards?

I have read on here that there are a fair number of you who make their own for personal numbers, but how many feel what came with the phone should be kept with the phone? Has anyone ever tried to track down the old owner based one the number? Or simply tried calling the number to see who picks up? 

Just curious.

andre_janew

#3
Don't forget that a forum member, newman (I think that's him!), came up with his own style of dial card that other members also like.  I don't have the link handy, but others may.

<edit> Newman99....Here is the post with his "Dial Card Maker":
http://www.classicrotaryphones.com/forum/index.php?topic=503.msg101824#msg101824
Terry <end of edit>

AL_as_needed

#4
This is similar to my experience with my first phone, and something i consider with each new acquisition. The original number card was in the center, just reversed so it looked like a blank when I first got it. A quick  internet search revealed it was from the recently defunct Narco Avionics company down in Fort Washington PA. Only wish there was more on info on the company's extension numbers to find the exact dept/desk this particular set was from.

On a 554 set I picked up a few weeks ago, I simply called the number (from the 554 of course) and  found the adult son of the original owners. He was apparently the cause for all the stickers and glue on the shell, quite a fun discovery.


Quote from: unbeldi on April 11, 2016, 11:20:18 AM
Number cards can be a great source of information and joy for researching the history of a telephone.
They add a story and life to what is otherwise simply a piece of dead instrumentation.

I have even found a 1930's classified add in a Brooklyn newspaper archive that the owner of a candlestick I found had placed, so I know the exact address when my phone once operated and the building is still standing today, right across the street from one of the corners of Prospect Park in Brooklyn.



TWinbrook7

Greg G.

Quote from: AL_as_needed on April 11, 2016, 08:56:43 AM
Now I know in terms of what someone wants from a phone in terms of originality varies from matching everything to parts correct/ascetics only, but what of number cards?

I have read on here that there are a fair number of you who make their own for personal numbers, but how many feel what came with the phone should be kept with the phone? Has anyone ever tried to track down the old owner based one the number? Or simply tried calling the number to see who picks up? 

Just curious.

I always look the number up using a reverse directory to see if it's still a "live " number before posting a picture of it on the forum.  If it's live, I blur out the number.  Whether or not I keep it depends on the format of the exchange and number and how it looks, e.g. if it's hand written I usually toss it.   But first I check to see if there's another dial card underneath,  that's happened.
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