Western Electric Chestphone

[ams3977]

My dad brought this home for me from work.  The school he worked at was closing and this phone was in line for the trash. I have been trying to find more information on it but not much luck so any info would be nice to know.  I'm using it with my magic jack which is not easy since they dont support rotary but i just dial on the computer and answer/hang up through the handset perfectly no static or anything.

[bingster]

Deco-Tel supplied decorator telephones to various companies, mainly the Bell system, but also GTE as this one shows.  They were available to customers who wanted something a bit fancier than the few "standard" models offered by the phone company.  Most of them are from the mid-1970s to the early 1980s.  They also made the Chestphone with black padded vinyl side and top panels which were inset in the case.

My mother had the touch-tone version of this model beside her in the living room when I was a kid.

Here's the Bell System catalogue page for this phone:

 

Click on the thumbnails for the full-sized images.

[ams3977]

Thank You soo much for the information I really appreciate it!

[paul-f]

For reference, the Western Electric version has the model number marked on the bottom in vermillion ink... e.g. 881B100

More on the WE Design Line series of decorator sets (including the Chestphone)  is on this page:
  http://www.paul-f.com/weDesignLine.html#Chest