Displaying our phones

[liteamorn]

As my collection continues to grow I was wondering how you folks display your phones. I keep my wall phone, a we 554(not really a classic in my eyes until I get a good red shell and handset from 1973 for it) in the wall and is functional.

I have my 302 in my nautical living room, but it is not hooked up and I am not sure if it even works yet as I am still waiting for cords from one of the popular vendors.

I have a beige 1959 beige 500 (I replaced the fingerwheel with a soft centered one)on display and in use next to my bed.

I also have another beige 500 that works but for now it is not on display as the shell and dial do not match well.

I just received 2 phones I won on ebay, a very nice turquoise 500 and an avacado princess. Both phones work flawlessly and outside of some good polishing they are ready to display. I am thinking of swapping my 59 with my turquise phone as it would look better in my room.

I ahve a black 1954 500 on the way that is supposed to be in showroom condition. I plan on putting this on my desk.

Last but not least is my 2520 explosion proof phone I got working beautifully. I just need to sand a paint the front panel.

So my question is , how do you guys display your phones? Do you place them all over the house? Do you have special shelves set up for display? Or do you have telephone "rooms". The last is not an option for me. I'm just looking for some ideas .

[HarrySmith]

There are many different ways of displaying your phones. Mine are on top of my antique rolltop desk and the file cabinet next to it. I have a display of a 302, 5302 & 500 on stands in the living room.
Check out this thread for many ideas: http://www.classicrotaryphones.com/forum/index.php?topic=828.0

[jsowers]

Like you, I don't have an entire room I can devote to my collection and I do use them all over the house. They're so far superior to anything you can buy today. I've had some of them connected for over 20 years with no problems at all. I've even had lightning strike my phone line and kill a laptop modem and an AT&T electronic phone I had on the wall in the greenhouse. None of the WE phones were in the least bit damaged.

I have 554s in the kitchen, garage and basement, a green 500 in the living room, a white 702 Princess in the bedroom and a brown Trimline in the guest bedroom. Also a 302 on the other side of the basement. The 302 has the ringer disconnected. I also disconnected the greenhouse since it was never used much and not a good location for a vintage phone because of moisture. I have no problem hearing my phone ring inside or outside the house!

I have shelves in my dining room and living room to display phones. They're about waist high. Dusting the phones is the hardest part! I still haven't found a decent way to display 554s yet. They're propped against the bottom shelf, sitting on the carpet in the living room.

I think you have the right idea. They were made to be used. Get a transformer and light up your green Princess and use it! It sounds like you already have a nice collection. Be sure to show them to company, but beware of the glazed-over look that sometimes happens when you go a little too far! Just hit the high spots. I think that explosion-proof phone would be especially interesting since it was built for a specific purpose.

[Dave F]

I would mount the 2520 on the bathroom wall right next to the toilet.  Having a phone in the bathroom occasionally comes in real handy, and that explosion-proof set will certainly get quite a reaction from anybody who sees it!

Dave

[GG]

Phones in bathrooms: one thing you'll discover is, a sure-fire way to make the phone ring is to step into the bathroom.  Works every time. 

And the longer you expect to spend in there, the more urgent the call is. 
"I'm in the shower, can I call you back in twenty minutes after I dry off?" 
"No, I've gotta talk to you right this minute!"

If you don't have a PBX, be sure to install some kind of hold button that lets you transfer the call to elsewhere in the house. 

One more thing: choose a location for wall phones that minimizes the risk of a receiver falling into water if it gets knocked off the hook.  A heavy bakelite receiver that falls, can also crack porcelain such as a toilet bowl or the enamel on a sink or tub, or even a floor tile.  IMHO best to use newer phones with ABS handsets for that reason: the plastic has more "give" so it's less likely to cause damage.  Light blues and light greens are good water-related colors.

[Dave F]

<snip>...IMHO best to use newer phones with ABS handsets....

Hey, GG, ya think there might be a marketing opportunity here for a nice new lightweight explosion-proof set expressly for bathrooms.  Might be a winner!

Dave

[GG]

Dave - Yeah, sealed to prevent troubles due to steam. 

BTW, modular handsets do very much develop trouble that way: so you have to slide the handset plug in & out of the jack at the handset end in order to clear the film that's deposited on the contacts in a steamy environment.  Otherwise the receiver can cut out.  Hardwired handsets are best for bathrooms that have tubs or showers in them. 

Another advantage of ABS handsets in bathrooms is that they can be wiped down with sanitizers and cleaners more readily than bakelite.  You do not want an infection vector path from "unwashed hands" >> handset >> persons exiting the room with germs picked up from the handset.  If you have to answer a call with unwashed hands in the bathroom, be sure to give the handset a dab of sanitizer or something, to prevent it becoming a vector path.  Also useful & necessary to clean the phone occasionally along with all the other objects people touch in the bathroom, such as cabinet knobs and so on. 

Re. display cases and so on in general: 

Word to the wise: think *earthquakes.*  Bookcase-style display cases should be attached to the wall studs, and I would also suggest some kind of plexiglas (perspex) hinged doors that can be discretely latched with sufficiently good latches as to keep the contents from falling out during a quake.  I've seen some really nice displays in these pages that I would never ever use, since I'm in California and I wouldn't want to see a bunch of phones end up on the floor. 

[DavePEI]

Ya think there might be a marketing opportunity here for a nice new lightweight explosion-proof set expressly for bathrooms

Dave - Yeah, sealed to prevent troubles due to steam.

Everything used in a potentially explosive atmosphere should be sealed - at times even one's nasal passages.  

Dave

[Wallphone]

I have shelves in my dining room and living room to display phones. They're about waist high. Dusting the phones is the hardest part! I still haven't found a decent way to display 554s yet. They're propped against the bottom shelf, sitting on the carpet in the living room.

This is how someone displayed his 500 type telephones at Ray K's Mason Show in 2009.
Doug Pav

[paul-f]

ya think there might be a marketing opportunity here for a nice new lightweight explosion-proof set expressly for bathrooms.  Might be a winner!

Some phone makers have pursued the bathroom market.  For example...

[Dave F]

ya think there might be a marketing opportunity here for a nice new lightweight explosion-proof set expressly for bathrooms.  Might be a winner!

Some phone makers have pursued the bathroom market.  For example...

I don't know Paul, it just isn't Western Electricy enough, and it certainly isn't explosion-proof.  I think a nice big 320 would give my bathroom more of the character it should have -- right next to my 5-gallons-per-flush 1942 Kohler Wellworth toilet!

Dave

Edit -- More here:

http://www.classicrotaryphones.com/forum/index.php?topic=5599.msg67889#msg67889

[GG]

Paul: Eeek!, that's exactly what not to do: one unit that does too many things, and has too many complex surfaces that are hard to keep clean. 

I tend to see these things through the lens of public health.  You turn on the faucet with dirty hands, wash your hands, and then turn off the faucet and pick up the same germs that were waiting there patiently since you turned it on. And then you sit down at the kitchen table to eat.  Uh-oh.  Much smarter to have the toilet and sink operated by foot-pedals, and the door as well: an idea that was first proposed by British public health authorities in the early 1960s!  (Between now and then, use a paper towel to turn off the faucet and open the door, especially in public bathrooms.) 

So IMHO the ideal bathroom phone is a 554 or 2554 or AE 90 or 182: easy to clean and no need for external power supply that might become a shock hazard. 

Dave, if you can hang an explosion-proof phone on your bathroom walls, you must have some pretty good timber in those walls.  Not to mention a twisted sense of humor:-)

[Dave F]

Dave, if you can hang an explosion-proof phone on your bathroom walls, you must have some pretty good timber in those walls.  Not to mention a twisted sense of humor:-)

Two-by-fours that are really 2"x4", genuine plaster walls, and definitely a twisted sense of humor.  Now, I just have to find a nice 320 and I'll be ready to go.

DF

[DavePEI]

Two-by-fours that are really 2"x4", genuine plaster walls, and definitely a twisted sense of humor.  Now, I just have to find a nice 320 and I'll be ready to go.

DF

Me, too! One which didn't cost me my firstborn!
Dave