A Bakelite (Antwerp) phone from Paris

[FABphones]

I've been shopping again! I spent a heady 25e on this Parisian phone.

This phone style isn't hard to find but what attracted me to this one is the Paris label on the front and the listening device on the rear. Most of these phones don't have those. I'm also a bit particular about French dials. As they break they are often replaced by the later plastic fingerplate versions with the 'bolt' through the centre, so I try to avoid those and look for these earlier, nicer dials.

'Around 1932 the Antwerp factory of the Bell Telephone Manufacturing Company (BTMC) was entrusted with the task of designing a universal wall and desk telephone that could be sold by all European subsidiaries of the International Standard Electric Corporation'.

I was also lucky enough to pick up a complete French dial for 5e. It's always good have spare dials. I have quite a few joblot UK dials in parts as Mr F (ex-BT) is teaching me how to rebuild them.   

So, Madam Paris has received my 3 day beauty treatment - here is her photo shoot  :

[HarrySmith]

Nice.

[LarryInMichigan]

The "mother-in-law" receiver is interesting.  I don't recall ever seeing one on an "Antwerp" phone before, but they were apparently just about universal in France.  I like the very unique and imaginative manufacturer company name on the tag .

Larry

[FABphones]

The "mother-in-law" receiver is interesting.  I don't recall ever seeing one on an "Antwerp" phone before, but they were apparently just about universal in France.  I like the very unique and imaginative manufacturer company name on the tag .

Larry

Quite often they are missing, and other countries that produced this phone (STC in the UK for example), didn't use them - but the STC ones did have the very nice E1 style handset.

I forgot to mention on my original post, the company name on the nametag is also on the handset internals.

I posted this info elsewhere but the extra receiver came into being as French rural telephone lines were of poor quality for speech reception so the handset would be held to one ear to speak/listen, and the ecouter to the other ear to improve sound.

Info re the nametag:

'General Telephone Construction Company (CGCT) is a former French subsidiary of the US group ITT invested in the field of telephone exchanges

Thomson-Houston Telephone Company (CTTH), created in 1915 as a subsidiary of Compagnie Française Thomson-Houston (CFTH), was sold to the US holding company ITT in 1926, and at that time took the name of Compagnie Générale de Constructions Téléphoniques (CGCT)'.



*My next Téléphone de France is en-route. Am very pleased about that one....
New thread once it arrives.