My "new" AE 50 Monophone

[canuckphoneguy]

I just received my first EBay purchase today - an AE 50 Monophone. Not sure of the year, too scared to open it up. I paid $129 for this and am thrilled with it. It's in excellent condition and has a beautiful ring to it. It was given to a Bell Employee on his retirement years ago. It was mounted as part of the gift. It looks great in my kitchen! 

[AE_Collector]

I was going to say that looks EXACTLY like the retirement gifts our shops at BC Tel made up for our retiring employees on the craft side. I can't quite read the dial tag (number card) in the picture but it looks EXACTLY like some of our old "604" (Area Code) Dial Tags too. So it very well could be a BC Telephone retirement gift. In later years once the ycould no longer get these phones one had to supply their own phone to the shops to have one of these made up. I've supplied several for that purpose.

No chance in H**L that a Bell Company would have provided an Automatic Electric phone to a Bell employee as a retirement gift though.....

I just zoomed in on the picture and indeed, a phone from British Columbia. Who's name is on the plaque or does it still have a plaque?

Don't be afraid to open it. Just loosen the two big screws in the front BUT the secret to actually getting the cover off of it is to also unscrew the plunger switch assembly. Don't lose either of the parts to it !

However, the chances of dating it by opening it up are almost nil. BC Tel DID put a small rectangular sticker with a date on the back of these when they were new and if they went through the shops again later. You would have to remove the screws holding the bakelite back to the wooden back to check for one of these stickers. They alwasy say "Canadian (BC) Telephones and Supplies Ltd on the sticker. CT&S was BC Tels internal equipment supplier and refurbisher as well as CO Equipment Installation Company. I started my career with them from 1975 through 1990 when I transferred over to BC Tel.

Terry

[canuckphoneguy]

Yes, it was from a BCTel!

Do you have any idea how old this phone would be?  Would this be from the 40s?

[AE_Collector]

Do you have any idea how old this phone would be?  Would this be from the 40s?

Between 1939 and approximately 1960.

Here's one of it's relatives in the background with one of my relatives (my daughter) in the foreground. No it doesn't have two handset cords, jus tone really long one which is draped up and over the top of the phone to keep the coils from stretching out badly under the weight of the cord.

Terry

[canuckphoneguy]

Thanks Terry. Also thanks for the information about this phone. I really like it and am glad to have it in my home. The plaque was removed by the owner who wanted to keep it, or his family did. 

[AE_Collector]

What type of wood is it and how is it finsihed. All that I can recall seeing in the past were oak with a relatively light to medium stain but yours looks more like walnut or even maple.

I can tell you exactly where that retirement gift was put together. 6969 10th Avenue, Burnaby BC. You are in Eastern Canada, right? Was it sold on ebaY by someone here in BC?