A unique 1977 GPO Trimphone

[.....]

I'm not entirely sure I agree with what's been said here. I have a feeling they WERE manufactured. I've certainly seen them on a number of occasions, unless of course I've just got lucky and kept seeing a very small number of prototypes and probably the same phone multiple times.

(I have a feeling they WERE manufactured.) Yes they were, In a small volume. See next answer.

One question I have would be were these trimphones produced for the GPO or for private users? There were a lot of phones of that era where a type made for the GPO was also supplied to private customers. A good example would be the Ericsson N1900, which is essentially a clone of the GPO 706. I always assumed these trims were GPO, but it might be worth checking?

From an email sent to me from Andy Grant a well known UK collector:

Hi Doug,

I am aware of around ten of these phones in existence but there are several variations of dial/push button, body, cord and push button colours.

The only unique parts of these phones was the embosssed handset and so different combinations were made to submit to the Post Office for consideration.

I have included the paragraph I wrote on them from my recent article on the history of the Timphone for the THG magazine below.

With kind regards,

Andy.

Silver Jubilee Edition Prototypes – produced by STC in 1977 but never adopted by the Post Office.
The Post Office were looking to issue a commemorative telephone to celebrate the Queens Silver Jubilee in 1977 and manufacturers were asked to submit ideas. STC's offerings consisted of a Push Button and a Dial Trimphone both with a white body and blue handset with a gold insignia embossed into the back of it. The Push Button version also had blue keypad buttons. Unfortunately the Post Office rejected STC's submission in favour of the Navy Blue Compact Telephone that we are all familiar with but there are a handful of the STC prototypes in the hands of collectors.

Perhaps they were given by STC as a gift to employees? Yes, I know domestic customers ion the UK rented their phones from the all-powerful GPO, but A few months ago I met an ex-employee of the Post Office AGD building here in Chesterfield who swore she was given one of the more common 776-looking 'jubilee compacts' at the time, as all the employees were! I queried this, but she was adiment it happened.

You're talking about the 776, not the 766.

While we're on the subject of strange trimphones... This has just made me think of the popular 70's Saturday morning show Multi-Coloured Swap Shop. Noel had a strange bright orange trimphone on his desk for ages. As far as I know they never made an orange one for the GPO, so was this another oddball used on the system within BBC TV Centre?

See what TelePlay Said above.

[Owain]

Here are some pictures for you Owain from Bob Freshwater's site.

Thank you. There still isn't a picture of a phone actually with a Scottish dial crest in the dial though.

[andy1702]

(I have a feeling they WERE manufactured.) Yes they were, In a small volume. See next answer.

From an email sent to me from Andy Grant a well known UK collector:

Hi Doug,

I am aware of around ten of these phones in existence but there are several variations of dial/push button, body, cord and push button colours.

The only unique parts of these phones was the embosssed handset and so different combinations were made to submit to the Post Office for consideration.

I have included the paragraph I wrote on them from my recent article on the history of the Timphone for the THG magazine below.

With kind regards,

Andy.

Silver Jubilee Edition Prototypes – produced by STC in 1977 but never adopted by the Post Office.
The Post Office were looking to issue a commemorative telephone to celebrate the Queens Silver Jubilee in 1977 and manufacturers were asked to submit ideas. STC's offerings consisted of a Push Button and a Dial Trimphone both with a white body and blue handset with a gold insignia embossed into the back of it. The Push Button version also had blue keypad buttons. Unfortunately the Post Office rejected STC's submission in favour of the Navy Blue Compact Telephone that we are all familiar with but there are a handful of the STC prototypes in the hands of collectors.

You're talking about the 776, not the 766.

See what TelePlay Said above.

But the question is.... is Andy Grant correct? He could be wrong, just like the rest of us could. The problem with the internet is people say things which are then taken as fact, but often don't back it up with any documentation as evidence. What Andy says may well be correct, but all I can tell you is that sitting here in the UK I've seen an awful lot of these jubilee trimphones if there are indeed only 10 of them. Until I see proof there are only 10 I'd still value one at about £50 - £80 judging by the apparent number I've seen for sale over the last two or three years.

[.....]

A couple more messages from Andy Grant. I passed along the link to this thread to him.

There is no record of how many were made especially as there were several variations on them.
The only original part was the embossed handset so various combinations were assembled for submission. I also have the rarer dial version.

Thanks for the link. If you are a member of the THG, there is a comprehensive article on the history of the Trimphone  in the next issue of their Journal.  The Trimphone was designed and built by STC who were owned by ITT who made some of them available to their customers in North America.  The one that you were lucky enough to purchase may have been a sample sent to ITT.

THG (Telecommunications Heritage Group)

[Owain]

I've nominated it for Find of the Month Sept (as August has closed)
http://www.classicrotaryphones.com/forum/index.php?topic=18651.0

[.....]

Thanks Owain,

But you posted Andy Grant's phones. Here is a picture of mine.

CDN Doug

[TelePlay]

. . . you posted Andy Grant's phones. Here is a picture of mine.

Fixed.

[.....]

But the question is.... is Andy Grant correct? He could be wrong, just like the rest of us could. The problem with the internet is people say things which are then taken as fact, but often don't back it up with any documentation as evidence. What Andy says may well be correct, but all I can tell you is that sitting here in the UK I've seen an awful lot of these jubilee trimphones if there are indeed only 10 of them. Until I see proof there are only 10 I'd still value one at about £50 - £80 judging by the apparent number I've seen for sale over the last two or three years.

Some replies from some of the UK Facebook users on Telecommunications Heritage Group THG Facebook page after I asked for information on the Trimphone. I took a snapshot of my FB page.

[Owain]

Fixed.

Thank you.

[.....]

Here is an ad for some Trimphones for sale in the UK. This was posted in the Telecommunications Heritage Group Magazine called Journal in the For Sale page. The Jubilee phone that is listed there is the same one that just sold on eBay for 300 pounds. $480.64 CDN or $396.58 USD

So I guess I can now put some kind of value on mine.

http://www.ebay.ca/itm/Extremely-Rare-Prototype-1977-Silver-Jubilee-Trimphone-These-Were-Never-Issued-/182752119783?

[andre_janew]

Here in the United States, the last 10 button phone came out in 1967.  For that reason, it seems odd to me to see a 10 button phone of any kind or brand from 1977.

[ThePillenwerfer]

Pulse dialling was the norm in Britain until well into the 1990s.  A lot of push-button 'phones had twelve buttons but the # and * were actually Last Number Redial and Mute.

[twocvbloke]

My Saisho "Telecom 250" Trimline copy is that way, full 12-button keypad, but Pulse-dial only so the * and # Mute and Redial respectively with no switch to set it to DTMF...

http://www.classicrotaryphones.com/forum/index.php?topic=11070.msg118805

[andy1702]

Here's another thought... If jubilee trimphones really were a rare never-launched item, is sombody faking them? I regularly buy bog-standard dial trims for about £10 each. It strikes me that embossing the handset (or even using a cheap transfer) would be quite easy. That would account for why I and others have seen so many in recent years?

One interesting aspect is the colour scheme. They don't seem to use many parts manufactured in the standard colour range. For a start the buttons were always white or off-white on every other model.

There are a lot of old phones of this era now in the uk with much later non-standard repro parts. In some cases you need to be a real expert to spot one.

Something that does look suspect is your line cord. If that was original it would usually be the same colour as the handset cord and have a trimphone specific grommet moulded onto it where in enters the body of the phone. Yours appears to be silver, so unless you've changed it yourself for one with a US plug, then that is something else to question.

I agree the 10 button layout would be right for the period in the UK. 12 buttons came a few years later and are much more desirable today because of their tone dialling. Expect to pay around £40 for a 12 button trim on e-bay.

[ThePillenwerfer]

I wonder if it would be worthwhile faking them?  'Normal' people aren't going to know how rare a particular model is — they probably only want an old telephone that they like the look of.  Collectors who appreciate the rarity would be more likely to spot a fake and ask about it's origin.

The only reason I can think of to do it would be the hope of appealing to collectors of royal memorabilia as well as those of telephones.

Duffy's 'phone was found in Canada so that probably explains the line cord being changed; I wouldn't fancy trying to get an RJ11 onto the original.  At least silver goes with the Silver Jubilee, which may be why it was chosen.

As for the repro parts, a lot of the ones I've seen on sale for 746s are actually for 8746s: several small holes in earpieces instead of one big one and a fine mesh across the vent holes in back of the main body.