Garbage Picked Wall Phone - Updated Kellogg Magneto Wall Phone

[Arthur Kill]

I recently "garbage picked" this antique wooden wall phone.

It's a really cool piece but I have no idea what the make, model or value is?  I have zero expertise in this field, nor do any of my friends, neighbors or colleagues.

So, I would like to ask the experts here to see if anyone can provide some info. 

I am especially interested in it's age.

I can supply more and/or specific pictures upon request.

Thank you in advance.

[TelePlay]

First of all, welcome to the forum, the best place in the world for getting your questions answered.

Nice find. Seems most of the parts are there, the wood phone experts will help there, so well worth the price, free.

[Arthur Kill]

First of all, welcome to the forum, the best place in the world for getting your questions answered.

Nice find. Seems most of the parts are there, the wood phone experts will help there, so well worth the price, free.

Thank you sir for the welcome!

I'm very happy to be here!

[Babybearjs]

what did you pay for it? they normally are around $250.00-$500.00 depending on where you find it... what kind of deal did you get?

[wds]

A lot of the parts look like Kellogg.  I think the transmitter mount is Western Electric.  Don't recognize the magneto.  A phone assembled at an independent shop out of spare parts?  Quite an interesting phone. 

[Arthur Kill]

what did you pay for it? they normally are around $250.00-$500.00 depending on where you find it... what kind of deal did you get?

Nothing.

I "garbage picked" it. 

Took it from the top of a bulk trash pile in front of a home that was recently sold near my home just outside of New York City.  Is it really worth that much?

[Arthur Kill]

A lot of the parts look like Kellogg.  I think the transmitter mount is Western Electric.  Don't recognize the magneto.  A phone assembled at an independent shop out of spare parts?  Quite an interesting phone.

From looking at pictures on the 'net, I did land on Kellogg more times that not.  But never found an exact match. 

The size/placement of the rectangular router design on the face of the phone was most often found on the Kellogg brand but the mouth-piece didn't match any of them.  Nor did the tablet supports.

Never even considered "independent shop out of spare parts" but but I think you're on to something. 

Did that happen a lot?

[Sargeguy]

I would say it is worth about $75-100. As stated earlier this looks like a mixture of parts.  These are usually worth the sum of their parts.

[Sargeguy]

Is that a 6-bar magneto?  Even more reason to sell the parts separately.

[Arthur Kill]

Is that a 6-bar magneto?  Even more reason to sell the parts separately.

Do you suppose someone put this together as an antique or "in it's time" to use as a functioning phone?

How old does it appear to be?

[wds]

To me it looks like a 4 bar magneto, with come kind of cover over the two pairs.

[Arthur Kill]

To me it looks like a 4 bar magneto, with come kind of cover over the two pairs.

That is exactly correct.

Does that give you a lead as to make, model and/or age?

[Alex G. Bell]

Look for unused screw holes in the wood around or even under existing mounted parts.  If the phone was originally "pure bred" by a single mfr and parts were replaced over time with parts from other mfrs there are likely to be unused holes from the original screws since different mfrs' parts rarely have the same mounting centers. 

Also look for ID #s impressed into the back or edges of the cabinet.  They may be very hard to see except with bright light.

A number of the parts look Kellogg to me: method of securing the cabinet closed, switchhook, induction coil, receiver.  Transmitter mount is WECo but transmitter Kellogg or Stromberg-Carlson (not sure from that angle). 

Ringer photo is not good enough from a single angle.  But below is a link within the TCI site where you will find a slew of Kellogg catalogs showing their components and should be able to make positive ID of the ringer, magneto and perhaps the over-all phone and determine whether the Kellogg transmitter bracket had a smaller footprint so that its original screws would be hidden behind the WECo one.

http://www.telephonecollectors.info/strombergcarlson/kellogg/kellogg_main.htm

[wds]

The coil and probably the condenser looks like Kellogg.  There is a shelf missing right where the magneto is.  I don't think I've ever seen a Kellogg magneto mount from the back like that one - maybe a holzter cabot?  Also, (hard to tell from the pictures) but it looks like a hole was plugged above the crank handle - probably the magneto sat on the missing shelf and the crank handle was  6-8" higher than it currently is?  It still looks to me like a mish mash of parts. 

[Sargeguy]

The age is late for that type of phone, around 1940 or so.