Got myself a Fuld Frankfurter Bauhaus telephone

[Matilo Telephones]

Tonight I picked up a really really special telephone. This is a Fuld model Frankfurt, also known as the Bauhaus telephone.
It was designed first made in 1928 and is considered real Bauhaus design.
Although the black paint has been removed and some of nickel plating on some parts, it is complete and looks to be in good condition, save for the paint.
Everything is there. This one even has the Fuld logo. The company was renamed Telefonbau & Normalzeit in the 30ies.
Alas the original handset has been replaced with a different design.
Really nice project. Can't wait to get started on it. I'm going to give it a very very thourough restauration indeed. Down to the last screw!

See last pic, I do have an original handset for it. I bought 2 intercoms a couple of years ago with these Frankfurter handsets.

[david@london]

arwin -

lovely phone.
did you see this recent sale of a fuld ?  went for $500, 1 bid. seller was in doorwerth, netherlands.

ebay.uk link

[Matilo Telephones]

Thanks David, I did see that one after I bought mine. :-) Intereseting detail is that that one was in Holland too.

I thought it was a little on the cheap side compared to some. but I do not compare these prices every day so I may be wrong.

I payed 95 euro for mine. But it does need a lot of work (which i am looking for and which I will photograph and write about).

[countryman]

It struck me a bit like a lightning when I found eBay item 362736375589 this afternoon right before the auction ended.
The description was so bad and misspelled, it was just by accident! I'm pretty sure it is a later model of the "Frankfurt" phone, already with the T&N logo and a bakelite (not BAGELITT, lol) shell.
It was even so weird that i thought of a fraud for a moment. But the seller has good reviews over a reasonably long time with rummage goods. So keep your fingers crossed! I paid already and gave packaging suggestions. Hoping for the best...I'll give updates...

[Jim Stettler]

This is a true  find of the month entry.
Please make it official and enter it.
http://www.classicrotaryphones.com/forum/index.php?topic=22948.0

Amazing find. You did very well.
JMO,
Jim S.

[david@london]

Countryman,

a really great find there. Couldn't seem to find the sale, using the # you quoted - 362736375589 - on Ebay Germany.

I was looking at the info on Fulds on Arwin's excellent Matilo Telephones site and he mentions that later models were bakelite.

http://www.matilo.eu/3-the-phones/1926-1945-bakeliet-ww2/english-fuld-model-frankfurt-bauhaus/?lang=en

it will be interesting to see further details and photos after you receive the phone.


thanks for adding the link to the sale.....here are the photos

[countryman]

Here's a link that will hopefully work. I used to think the number alone would also find expired auctions, but it doesn't.

https://www.ebay.de/itm/362736375589?

[tubaman]

Nice find and at a sensible price too!
More photos when it arrives please.

[countryman]

Is it OK to continue this thread (and "hijack" it to some point) or should I start a new thread?

Well the phone arrived this morning and yes it looks like on the pictures. It is not a find of the month though. It's not a complete loss to begin with but not what I hoped for either. It is messed up inside.
I guess the seller did intentionally hide herself behind appearing like a complete moron. I felt something was not right, but then again it was this legendary model...

Someone seems to have turned it into an intercom years ago. There is no capacitor or bell but a DC buzzer. The dial is not connected to anything, but looks complete and working, just is out of alignment. It is the original Fuld/T&N dial. There is no induction coil either. The baseplate is stamped 7/33, so a document from the Nazi takeover time when the Fuld family was already squeezed out of their own company.  The baseplate is severely damaged. Someone obviously cut it in pieces, heating up and burning away the nickel plating in the process. It was later cobbled together useing very modern bolts (probably the seller did this?) so that the hookswitch and the front button actually even work, though they are functionless.
Cordage, housing, connection box and handset are in good or even excellent shape. I did not open the handset yet as it takes a special tool. I don't guess someone was in there before.
To sum it up, I have some options now:
-leave as is as a display. As I only collect working phones, I'd have to sell it in it's sad state.
-try and find a ringer, a coil and a capacitor. For a phone of this standard, it should be original parts with matching dates. Maybe baseplate and housing are'nt even a match and someone cobbled together intercom and dial telephone parts way back in history, so it might always be a frankenphone.
-Scrap it out for parts, maybe the most economical solution in the dilemma???

Suggestions please.

[tubaman]

That's really sad that its been so badly messed with.
My first step would be politely going back to the seller and asking how they'd like to deal with this, as it's clearly nothing like the '100% original' that they claimed.
I suspect eBay would side with you if you raised a 'not as described' case for it - you would likely have to send it back though.
All very disappointing.

[Doug Rose]

it is very disappointing when you think you have a very rare phone only to find it is not what it was advertised as. That being said, a Fuld in a very nice displayable condition, no chips or cracks for $133 is in my opinion.... a steal. When you sit a phone on a shelf, it is what you see, not what is inside. I understand you want it as it should be.

I think if you contact seller they will say send it back for a full refund. Would you?

Not belittling your disappointment, but if you are selling it, you will have a line of collectors willing to purchase it for what you paid for it. It is still a beautiful rare phone....Doug

[tubaman]

Doug, I agree it will still display well, but what has been done inside appears to be a deliberate deception to make it all look intact.
I can't begin to imagine why the chassis was butchered like it has been, but its clearly been fixed back together pretty recently.
The intercom conversion part does appear to have been done many years ago though.
Like @countryman I like to have my phones as original as possible, and I would struggle to live with that no mater how nice it looked on a shelf. That's just me though.

[HarrySmith]

I would keep it as a placeholder. Clean it up & display it until you find a correct complete one or the correct parts to rebuild it.

[Doug Rose]

Everyone has different wants and tolerances on how their phones will display. Me, they have to look like new from the front, sitting on my shelves. I have a perfect Red 302 from the front, big chip in the back corner. Can't see it, until I find a better one at a price I can afford, that's it.

I understand how  you you both feel as your tolerances are different than mine.

All I am saying is, I would take it at that price in a heartbeat, but that is just me. ...Doug

[countryman]

Thanks for the thoughts and encouragement. I will not send the phone back or dispute over it. I think my price was fair for what it is and the way it was advertised. The seller sure is what we call a "Schlitzohr" in german - a sly fox or a cheeky person might translate that :-) (Seafarers used to wear ear rings in the remote past. Living a rough lifestyle, they might loose one of the rings (ripped off as a punishment), leaving behind a "slitted ear".)

Looking at it more closely, I find tubaman's opinion confirmed. The first conversion is ancient, someone used adhesive paper slips to mark the wires (not plastic tape) and where the frame was split it is rusted over. Not sure how the spitting was done, looks like a shear or side-cutting pliers was used. But why is so much corrosion around the cut?
There are also cuts in the bakelite housing around the cradle. But they are precise and straight and don't look conspicuos at all. So whatever conversion should be done to the phone, it remained incompleted.
My guess is, the seller got the parts in this state and cobbled them together with metal straps and modern stainless Philips head bolts.

On the quick, I found drawings of Frankfurt setups with DC buzzers AND a dial. I will have to investigate into that. So it could turn out better than I thought. Finding a coil should be possible. At least parts of the wiring loom are there and look original. That could be completed.
I have some welding skills and equipment and can fix the rear part of the frame much better than it is now. The base of the earthing button is brass and will need brazing. That's not my speciality but could be done, too.