Candlestick ID Help.

[Russ Kirk]

This phone seems to have come in several finishes also.  I've seen nickel, brass, copper, and black. 

The one that surprises me the most is the copper finish.

[unbeldi]

I have 5 or 6 Chicago catalogs and none show a transmitter/perch like that.

The 1928 catalog has a base and shaft that look somewhat similar, but the perch is way wrong.

What are all the finishes listed in the Chicago catalogs for these models?

Well, my catalogs don't have a lot of desk stands in them, most wood phones. But the early ones seems to be all nickel finished, a little later there were some with either wooded or hard rubber belly, and the last catalog (~1928?) only lists one that looks similar to this one here as having a black finish that appears to be japanned, by the description of 'being specially treated' to not peel or chip.

Unfortunately, none of the catalogs actually have any dates printed in them.  The catalogs have the Nos. 29, 42, 43, 51, 54, and seem to start just after 1900 or.  Some show a bond certificate having 'one thousand nine hundred' as a part of the empty date fields.

I don't know how they could have produced so many catalogs, going by the numbers.  They only were founded in 1895.  But they were a mail-order company, I think, so perhaps they printed them monthly.

[poplar1]

I was hoping there was some documentation of the raw brass or copper look. So far, I've not seen any US-made brass phones that were anything other than nickel plated or painted.

[unbeldi]

Copper finish is rather dubious, I can't believe it is original, unless protected with a clear coat, it would be rather ugly looking looking in not much time, especially since these instruments are routinely handled, and often with sweaty hands, clinging to the stick.

The writings in the catalogs emphasize the quality of their instruments, at a price less than the top-quality competition.  Copper ain't it.  And brass is not far behind.

[wds]

From Old Telephones . com

[Russ Kirk]

Copper finish is rather dubious, I can't believe it is original, unless protected with a clear coat, it would be rather ugly looking looking in not much time, especially since these instruments are routinely handled, and often with sweaty hands, clinging to the stick.

The writings in the catalogs emphasize the quality of their instruments, at a price less than the top-quality competition.  Copper ain't it.  And brass is not far behind.

I feel the same......
While I am far from an expert, I have never seen in documents a supporting a factory issue copper finish.  If someone does have docs to support an original factory issue copper finish, please share with the forum.