Stromberg-Carlson 1546W Found-Nice!

[Ed Morris]

I found this nice SC1546W ivory desk set in an antique store in southwest Virginia this past weekend.  It was "on sale" at $25, which is a pretty good price for a rotary desk set around here.   

But I think the Stromberg-Carlson 1546W is a little rarer the the usual Western Electrics, and I like the chopped corners.  It also feels heavier than a comparable WE set.

I didn't have access to a POTS line to check it out, but everything was complete and appears to be all original.  The phone was very clean.  There was a little Scotch tape residue on handset I had to clean off.

[Ed Morris]

When I got home, my assistant Zeke and I checked out the phone.  Everything works great!  Dial tone, rotary dial works fine, standard ringer works.  Actually my assistant isn't much help; he just gets in the way.

The network is marked 206011-409.  Note in the image in the post above that the original number has a strike-over.

The receiver is dated 2-65 and the only other marking is a "33"

The transmitter is dated 9-64 and marked "30"

 

[LarryInMichigan]

That looks like a really nice phone for $25, and the network was made the month I was born.  I would have bought it for certain.

Larry

[Jim Stettler]

Those are a bit scarce and I like them. I would pay as high as $50-60 for this phone.
My value may be high in regards to market value, But I don't mind paying a little extra for a phone I like.
$25 for this phone would be a happy price to me.
JMO,
Jim

[Ed Morris]

Thanks for the kind comments, guys.  I did go ahead and replace the line cord with a new cord with a more modern small RJ11 plug, as the original had a large, rectangular modular plug attached that was rather awkward to use.  The original line cord was a two wire cord.

[Pourme]

~

Great phones, to happen on one in a color is a good day....at $25?

A Excellent Day!

Congrats!

[RB]

Nice find! and Zeke seems to approve.
Like the cradle too.different

[Dan F]

Nice cat

[oldguy]

Nice looking phone & I'm a fan of hand crank pencil sharpeners too.

[paul-f]

... I think the Stromberg-Carlson 1546W is a little rarer the the usual Western Electrics, ...

It's also a little rarer than the standard 1543! Nice find, Ed.

From https://www.telephonecollectors.info/index.php/search?q=sc+1546

The 1543-W is the standard single line desk model telephone. It is available for dial or manual operation but is  shipped with dial blank and adapter unless ordered with dial. It can be equipped with tuned frequency or straight line ringers.

1546-W - Same as 1543-W except telephone is wired for two-party identification, permitting central office equipment to automatically identify party placing a DDD call.

[Stormcrash]

That's cool Paul. I didn't realize there was an automatic way to determine the calling party for long distance on a party line, let alone have it within the phone

[paul-f]

That's cool Paul. I didn't realize there was an automatic way to determine the calling party for long distance on a party line, let alone have it within the phone

As you can imagine, in the days of operator-completed calls, it was conceptually simple for the operator to wite your number (seen above the plug on the switchboard) on a paper toll ticket and add the call info for billing purposes.

When the CO went to a dial equipment for long distance calls, there had to be an automated way to handle billing without human intervention. Most of the equipment was in the CO, but each phone had to have a simple component or two for the CO gear to "read." A lot has been written on ANI (Automatic Number Identification) and the equipment used to implement it. Much can be found in the TCI Library and in back issues of the Bell System Technical Journal, Bell Laboratories Record and other employee publications.

Some can be found relatively easily by doing a basic search for ANI in the TCI Library. For more, use a Google site search for ANI.