WE 152AB Transmitter Query

[extremecinema]

I'm restoring a 152AB candlestick, and I have both a 323 and a bulldog transmitter available.

I see them pictured with both...which is more historically accurate?

[unbeldi]

I'm restoring a 152AB candlestick, and I have both a 323 and a bulldog transmitter available.

I see them pictured with both...which is more historically accurate?

They both are. It depends on what you want to achieve.  The 152AB is a converted set, from a 52AB.

From 1930 to 1934-35, the conversion could only have entailed either a 323 or a 337 transmitter. But starting ca. 1934-35, the F1 transmitter was available and the set could well have been converted using a 635A transmitter assembly.

Are there any other refurbishing marks on the base, or perhaps date marks on the cords, that indicate when it was worked on?

[extremecinema]

The last date on the bottom edge of the base is 1920. 

When I received the piece, it was missing the receiver, had a 323 (w/o mouthpiece), and had a brass hanger (for a regular receiver, not a headset) that was put in by someone who had no idea what they were doing, because it did not contact the hookswitch (too short), and I later learned it came from an older WE wood wall phone.

Other incidentals....the phone has an original hookswitch, and two terminal blocks in the base, but absolutely no wiring of any sort.

The japanning was pretty rough all over, so the base, hook and pedestal are currently being stripped and powder-coated.

[poplar1]

These "hands free" (headset) phones were still being refurbished, with 635A (bulldog) transmitters into the 1960s. In the 1930s, and sometimes in the early 40s, they had the older style transmitters.