Western Electric 1136 mine phone

[sebbel]

As mentioned in another post i found this beauty hidding in a fleamarket on the weekend. From what I found it a circa 1949 Western Electric 1136 mine phone. If you know more about these phone let me know.

I pick a lot of stuff but it's very rare that I set eyes on something knowing It'll come with me no matter what. I'm not sure why I got it since I only collect Northern Phone that my grandfather would have work with and at over 80lbs I doubt it'll do well on ebay. It just looked too cool to leave behind. I'll just have to tell my wife we may be stuck with another one.

The story is that it was refurbished for use in a mine in Northern Virginia but the company went belly up and the phone was pulled before it was ver used. The inside is very clean and the phone is fitted with a modern lead battery in place of the dry cells. I got a dial tone on the first try but the phone stays engaged when I hang up I'm trying to fix that.

[LarryInMichigan]

That's a very interesting find.  How did it find it's way to NB from Virginia?

Since it is a local battery phone, you won't be able to use it as-is on your phone line.  It would probably best be used as an intercom.

Larry

[sebbel]

Actually it, and its 2 sibblings, found their way to Charlottetown PEI first. Some lady found them online and bought them. She must have got them for a nickel and a dime since I'm the second buyer since and I got it for what I think is a fair price.

Would it be hard to build a 2 phone system with a 317 on the other end?

[paul-f]

Very nice, Seb!

I wouldn't rule ebay out.  Even though shipping is huge, the market for these may not care.

The closest I came to owning one was at a local general auction about 6 years ago.  I didn't see any known phone collectors so thought I'd get a great buy on a pair of them that were being sold as one lot.  I dropped out and watched in awe as two guys bid them up to well over $200 - each.  The winner claimed he'd have no trouble doubling his money.

I don't know many phone collectors who would go that high.  Perhaps it's callbox specialty collectors.  Maybe someone here knows.

In any case, the few I've seen sell since all seem to go for more than I care to pay.

Congratulations.

[LarryInMichigan]

Would it be hard to build a 2 phone system with a 317 on the other end?

I am certainly no expert on these, but I would guess that this could be connected to a 317 without any problems.  You will need batteries on both ends.

Larry

[sebbel]

I wouldn't rule ebay out.  Even though shipping is huge, the market for these may not care.

I'll give it a try. In the meantime I'm going to try and link it to some other phone.