Western Electric 312A

[Bill]

This might be beyond the scope of this forum, but I'll ask anyway.

I walked into an Antique Shoppe yesterday, and was hit between the eyes with a Western Electric 312A fiddleback phone. Now that's my kind of phone! Except that I can't find much info on it. Does anyone know of a source of info about this phone? Diagrams, history, quantity made, anything at all? And of course I would like to know how much I should expect to bleed (pay) for it, although since I can't find any records of sales, there may be no "expected price".

And then, as I was staggering out under the weight of these questions, I also came upon a 20T candlestick, and a 30A. Tripped over my own tongue, slipped in the puddle of drool, and left.

They say the best dreams are in color. I'm now dreaming in old-phone oak.

Bill

[Dan/Panther]

Try here.
http://www.telephonearchive.com/phones/wood/we-98-with-gray.html
D/P

[Phonesrfun]

This might be beyond the scope of this forum, but I'll ask anyway.

I walked into an Antique Shoppe yesterday, and was hit between the eyes with a Western Electric 312A fiddleback phone. Now that's my kind of phone! Except that I can't find much info on it. Does anyone know of a source of info about this phone? Diagrams, history, quantity made, anything at all? And of course I would like to know how much I should expect to bleed (pay) for it, although since I can't find any records of sales, there may be no "expected price".

And then, as I was staggering out under the weight of these questions, I also came upon a 20T candlestick, and a 30A. Tripped over my own tongue, slipped in the puddle of drool, and left.

They say the best dreams are in color. I'm now dreaming in old-phone oak.

Bill

The 312 seems to be a specialized phone used in railroad applications.  Take a look at this link and see if the 312 in it is the same as the one in the antique store you were talking about.

http://www.cedarknolltelephone.com/cedartel/index.htm

-Bill (another Bill)

[Bill]

D/P - Oooh, that WE-98 is nice! The 20T is pictured on the same site. I'm getting excited.

Bill - yes, that's the one. But I'm not finding any other info.

This was an interesting antique shop. In addition to a number of nice 30's cathedral radios, he also had a 5-foot high IBM master control clock. I have several of the slaves, but I've never even seen a master. Very pricey, of course. But this is a telphgone forum, not a radio or clock forum, so I'll go back in my corner.

Too many toys, too little time (and money!)

Bill