Vintage Turret Traders Phone

Doug Rose · September 22, 2012, 08:21:44 AM

I won this on eBay yesterday. It is in tough condition, but I am going to give it a try. It appears to be an old Turret or traders phone. Looks AE to me, but the dial is WE. That's any easy fix. Speaker to listen to the Hotline action. I work at a Global Private Bank and am always looking for something old that is Stock Exchange related. I was surprised that it went so low. Amazing Dial Card looks to be in great shape. This will be a great winter project....Doug

~~http://tinyurl.com/8jq9od2~~ ( dead link 07-04-21 )

wds · September 22, 2012, 09:35:09 AM

I saw this auction, but dismissed it because I thought this was someones attempt to convert a phone to a radio. What do you mean by "traders phone"?

Doug Rose · September 22, 2012, 11:02:21 AM

Stock Exchange traders. They have to be in touch with other traders. With the dial card I am guessing this is an early trading phone. The speaker was used to be in constant contact with ring down lines to other companies. I am hoping that is what I got. The dial card id worth it to me, the rest is gravy!...Doug

wds · September 22, 2012, 11:11:25 AM

The dial looks like an operators dial - I assume the phone was not used to dial to an outside line?

AE_Collector · September 22, 2012, 12:06:54 PM

Good call Doug, I think your theory is very likely. It is a modification of an AE wall phone so your recently acquired AE type 38 handsets can be used to complete it. I would assume that phones like this were likely modified for this purpose by the Telco or some other unrelated company rather than by AE though anything is possible. I have seen indications of AE being involved in lots of odd things presumably to make a sale of its products.

All that I can recall from our old Vancouver Stock Exchange was flush panel mounted call director type keys with an attached AE 43A or 83A space saver for handset, hook and network. On the trading floor they didn't have dials as everything was ring down. I guess looks wasn't real important either as the AE wall sets had dial blanks with A barrier Strip type screw term strip mounted on it to easily connect it to the key strip. I have several of the phones but unfortunately I didn't keep any of the key strip units.

Terry

Doug Rose · September 22, 2012, 12:54:12 PM

Thanks or the info Terry. I can't wait to see it and chek it out....many thanks....Doug

RotarDad · September 22, 2012, 03:47:59 PM

Doug - that is an awesome phone! You'll have to post some photos when you have it all done! Just curious, how does the speaker work? Is it like a speakerphone, or is other equipment needed to make it function?

Doug Rose · September 22, 2012, 03:50:42 PM

My guess and only a guess was the speaker was separate from the phone and received the hotline that all the traders were on and the phone was separate. This is only a guess as these were before I started in the industry 35 years ago...Doug

LarryInMichigan · September 22, 2012, 09:48:18 PM

That phone probably started life as an AE type 3.

Larry

Doug Rose · September 25, 2012, 09:13:19 AM

I received the phone yesterday and the condition is MUCH better than expected. What I thought was rust is just dirt. The screen over the speaker is ripped, but I was thinking of replacing with a coarse window screen, any ideas?

"I would assume that phones like this were likely modified for this purpose by the Telco or some other unrelated company rather than by AE though anything is possible."

Terry, in your opinion, would there be a reason for a WE dial over an AE dial. I'd like to put an AE dial on it, but want to keep it authentic as possible. I will use one of the AE Handsets. Is the handset that came a an AE 1A with the ringer built in a AE Type 38. I can never get them straight.

The dial card is perfect!! I have never taken so long to remove one from a retainer ring. Scared I would ruin it. Scared that it wasn't the celluloid that was stained, but the card. Perfect with no fading, the celluloid held.

This will be a great Winter Project....Doug

LarryInMichigan · September 25, 2012, 09:48:32 AM

About the dial, I would guess that whoever modified the phone used a faster WE switchboard dial to make dialing faster.

Larry

AE_Collector · September 25, 2012, 10:59:34 AM

Does the speaker grill appear similar the a screen? What about the typical speaker grill cloth used on radios and tv sets back then?

The spit up handsets that are older than the type 41's used on the 40 & 50 are the type 38's. Not sure if you meant the 1A sets with the extension base for a ringer OR the ones with the induction coil handset. I guess we need to determine if there is an induction coil in the phone housing to get the correct handset. Stub can help here.

Larry might be correct about the dial though I don't think that all WE curved fingers top dials run at 20 PPS. Depends what type of switch they were talking to. So it could also come down to what type of dials the operating company liked to use.

Terry

Dennis Markham · September 25, 2012, 11:29:41 AM

Really neat phone, Doug. Having that dial card is awesome. By the looks of the paint loss on the finger holes, it got a lot of use.

poplar1 · September 25, 2012, 11:30:25 AM

What is the model number on the dial?

Doug Rose · September 25, 2012, 12:50:45 PM

David....Dial is a #6, I'll check it out when I get home

Terry....it is a screen, not cloth. But I do have an old radio for parts with great cloth....hmmmm.

As for the dial, I'll probalby leave it as is if you think it is correct.

All.....thanks for all the input. Its nice to find something so different. I am exceited to get to it....Doug

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Vintage Turret Traders Phone