My guess is this is John Infurna as it is not real. It is just a stunning piece. WE outside terminal receiver is real and does work Ringer box is a real WE. I will never own the real deal and the real deal would never look this nice. I am very happy with this find....Doug
I saw a Blake at an antique store, but it was advertised as a replica.
Looks really nice, Doug!
WOW! Looks fantastic! Even if it is one of John's, it still looks great! Nobody but one of us inmates or some other telephone fanatic would know the difference. I would definitely put one in my collection. Great catch. Is this an eBay find?
Put nickel plated bells on the bell box.
I don't think this is a John Infurna box. The lack of finger joints, the depth of the box, and the oddly placed magneto crank hole seems to indicate that someone took a top box and cut it down to size in order to fit the door from a Blake-type transmitter. The "steerhorn" hook was made from a cutting the holes off of a later style hook.
I don't believe its John's either. I had contacted the seller as I had an original Blake box and was interested in the base. The seller told me the black base was made of wood and painted black. The original base would have been nickel plated metal. John's reproductions are difficult to distinguish from the real deal. I believe this is what the seller stated is that it was a prop for TV or movies.
Its still a very cool piece and reasonably priced (unless you have to convert Canadian dollars to US dollars like me where its about $1.40 Canadian for every US dollar).
Craig....thanks for the picture of the real deal. I have a long pole that I am going to put on this as I thought that was original to it. The OT WE receiver that came on it is in wonderful working condition and will be sold to help defray the cost of this. I think, but that could change as it is really nice!
This displays wonderfully and not being an expert, I think it looks great.
I appreciate everyone's input on this.
The WE ringer was mine and I added it to the display. They look perfect together and looks like it was finished at the same time as it matches perfectly, even though the flash might make it look different.
I logged on to eBay last Friday and it was a recent post, but 22 people had already looked at it. I didn't wait and purchased it. Janet was very understanding, even when I told her only the OT receiver was real....Doug
Doug, Its a great piece and I would have bought it myself if it wasn't for the exchange rate.
Craig...it looks much better with the long pole on it. I am going to sell the OT WE that came on it to make it a more reasonable purchase. Even though I know its not real, I can't take my eyes off of it. It's really different....Doug
Doug,
Here`s another photo of the phone. You can see it on top of the roll top desk, over the left shoulder of the gentleman.
Another photo