How many of you actually use your antique phones?

[BDM]

I have several in use, or ready for use should I suddenly feel a need Right now, several early 302s, a 151AL W.E. CS, D1 mount with an E1 handset. The 302s drive my wife crazy at times. Those loud brass bells sure make plenty of noise when angry

[benhutcherson]

At the moment, I have the following hooked up

151AL
two 302s
5302
three 500s
two 554s
and an AE40

Only the 5302 and the subset for the 151AL ring.

[Shovelhead]

A 202 with the subset in the living room, and a 302 downstairs. I'll probably use the black Trimline that I've had since 1970 in the spare bedroom.
Can't find by dial Princess, misplaced it and packed it away during the move in '04. Probably in the garage's rafters (I hope it didn't get left behind)

[McHeath]

Have a 354 in the kitchen, it rings.

Two 500s in the office on the missus and my desks, only the 1954 model rings on her desk.

A Trimline in the den, no ring.

A 2500 in the guest office, they sometimes need touch tone, no ring.

A Princess in the master bedroom, it rings and the light works.  (Used a spare transformer I had laying around and wired it into the black and yellow wires of the jack, yeah I'm El Cheapo)

Planning on hooking up the Franken554 in the garage when I get to it, and it will ring.

There is one modern phone, a cordless with answering machine, in the kitchen, it does not ring and is rarely used by anyone in the family.  Keep it around mainly as a touch tone emergency phone. 

[bingster]

Three phones at the moment.  A 202/634A in the living room, and a '57 500 in the bedroom.  There's a cordless in the kitchen that I rarely use, and which has it's "ringer" turned off.

[Dan/Panther]

At the monment, I have two hooked up, one is an Automatic Electric, the other is a WE500.
My goal is to have at least one more.
D/P

[mienaichizu]

I have 4 vintage hooked up in my house

2 in my room, a 2500 in my computer table and a AE Type 186 (3-line) in my office desk, 1 in my stairs landing that serves as the main phone line, it is the STC phone and one in the kitchen the ITT 554 model. All of these phones rings

I also have a 2500 model hooked up in my work office.

The modern phone that was supplied to me by the telephone service provider is disconnected and hidden in the cupboard, hahahaha....

[Bill Cahill]

Right now, I only have one working phone. I have a cordless in the living room. That's going to be transfered  to the kitchen. I will have my latest buy WE 59 model 500 in the living room. I want to get a dial wall phone for my shop, and, another phone for the dining room.
Bill Cahill   

[JimH]

What I have hooked up changes all the time.  Right now I've got an Ivory 354 in the kitchen (mint condition LONG original cloth ivory curly cord), an Imperial D1 in the guest room, a 5302 in the bedroom, and a 554 soft plastic from '56 in the basement.  Oh yeah, my 50AL stick is in the hallway, but it's bell box is so loud, I have it adjusted off.

[Doug Houston]

Because of the way this place is laid out, I have about a dozen phone instruments in place, and in operation. There are still places  on the lower level, where I can be standing, and never be able to get to a phone if it rings. None of them are modern phones, at least in the sense that they are all dial instruments. They don't all ring; just enough to be able to hear when a call comes in.

There have been several times when I can be standing on the lower driveway in the summer, and I can hear a phone ringing through the open doorwall in the kitchen. There are two phones in my lower level garage, but if the garage doors aren't open, I'm helpless.

I'm getting a kick out of this stuff here. One day, I should  soon know these instruments by model number. I now know that my 1940 phone is a 302. hat's lesson no, 1. On to the next.

[BDM]

Well, if you want to get technical. The 302 is really an H1 mount. The first W.E. handset telephone was the A1(sometimes referred to as an AA1). It was nothing more than a candlestick base with a cut down stem, and a cradle attached to it. Then came the B1. Still a round base, but with a raised dial and no stem. The base is more "pointed" and the cradle is attached directly on top. Then came the D1. Oval base, recessed dial, one of my favorites. Here's my daily driver in my upstairs cave. The camera makes anything shiny black, look dusty, it's not. I need a new camera

[Bill Cahill]

Although the volume at present is a little weak, I am using my WE 500 half the time. When I get my wall phone finnished, mounted, and, plugged in, I will be using that in the kitchen.
Bill Cahill 

[phoneguy06]

I have two of my vintage phones connected right now, a Country Blue AT&T 500 and a Camelia Pink Automatic Electric 80. These phones are always connected,  as both of them have the Rotatone installed, so I can use them even if I encounter one of those annoying automated systems that says, "To reach Timbucktu, please press 2," and so on! The blue phone was reconditioned by AT&T in 1991, and the inner components (network, ringer, and base) are all 1964 W.E.; I won the phone on ebay. The pink AE I bought here at an antique market for $29; it was manufactured by AE Canada. I love the big older triangular feet and chrome number card holder and plungers.

[hilotech]

Yes, we have a black 302 that we picked up at a yard sale several years ago for $3.  Brought it home, screwed the line cord wires into the jack and the thing had a dial tone.  We took it partly apart to clean it and replaced the worn cords with cloth reproductions and shined it up a bit with back to black and changed some of wiring around (It was a Brooley Air Force Base phone from Mobile, Alabama).  Anyway, it's a great old phone that still works but probably should be refurbished better that I can do.

Ron and Michele

[McHeath]

Phoneguy06 those are sure good looking phones.  I had no idea that AT and T was still refurbing phones as late as 1991.  Does anyone know when this practice ended?