Wire Toy 'Army Men'

[zaphod01]

Here's photos of toys made from telephone wire. My grandfather worked for the phone company and every tool he owned was marked Western Electric or Bell System. I assume this was 'excess' equipment. These were his version of 'army men'. My brother and I had many of these but only these survived.

We knew it was Christmas when he would set up the Christmas tree made from telephone wire. It was a big cable with hundreds of pairs. It was expertly stripped back in the shape of a tree.

Anyone out there have a picture of one of these wire Christmas trees?

[Scotophor]

This reminds me of when I was a kid, I used to find the occasional bracelet made from what I now know to be wire from telephone cable. I have no idea who made them or where they got the cable from.

Some of the color combinations and patterns were quite striking, especially when wrapped as neatly as the green legs of the figure at lower left of your first photo - the way the tracer would appear and disappear to form a pattern seemed to be deliberately made for artistic expression.