Western Electric glass front 240/Sunburst Tandem Restoration

[Sargeguy]

I bought this phone from a man who cleans out houses.  The phone is an oak Western Electric TYPE 240 "two-boxer".  If you look closely at the picture you can see that the door of the magneto box is taken up by a large section of beveled glass.  Top boxes of this type are very rare, especially with intact glass panels.  The battery box was included, although it is damaged and needs to be re-glued.  The phone cost me $60. 

[Sargeguy]

The box has a large wheel "vanity" style magneto.  It appears to be nickel plated beneath a coat of dark paint.  The wheel itself has been plated. One feature of these phones is the side opening lock and the Western Electric imprint on the side of the box below the patent dates. 

[Sargeguy]

I hung it in the basement for now and will start investigating it further this weekend.

[RotarDad]

Greg - Very nice! What is the story behind the glass?  obviously a more expensive phone to show off the insides, but where would this have been used?  I bet you're pretty happy about the price and even finding this - I've never heard of one before.

[Sargeguy]

These were used on very ornate phones in public places on the East Coast in the late 1880s early 1990s. I am very pleased, these are very rare.  Here are a few examples of glass top phones:

[Key2871]

Very nice, what an awesome find! You must be psyched to have it! I know I would be.

[Sargeguy]

Thanks, it is my second best find of  the year

[RB]

Is the glass smoked, or clear?
Kinda reminds me of school science class stuff...
or industrial things, like scales and such.
Very nice. Would like to see that one in all its glory!

[Desert Phone Guy]

That magneto will also fit in a WE vanity  .  I have a vanity that has the sloped beveled glass front, and all the hardware is nickel plated.  Most likely most of the hardware that is visible is nickel plated to "show off" the inside via the beveled glass front.

What an excellent find.  Congratulations.

[Sargeguy]

Thanks!  I have an identical magneto, without the nickel plating, on my TYPE 67 box, and another on a N.E.T.&T. TYPE 72 box.   Even though the ones with large wheels are commonly referred to as "vanity" magnetos, they were used on a variety of different phones. I Suspect that most of them weren't actually used on vanities.

[Sargeguy]

I cleaned up the magneto and oiled it (it was pretty clean to begin with) and attempted to strip and polish the magnets.  The magnets are nickel plated but are not as shiny as I'd like them to be. I might need to strip them some more to remove addition paint. 

[Sargeguy]

Here are some pictures from a recent eBay auction, the phone sold for $3900:

[Key2871]

I wonder if iron doesn't plate well. But I bet it looks real nice when you're done.
Well no doubt you did well with the price you paid. Look forward to seeing that when you're done

[RotarDad]

Great progress so far Greg.  Are you planning to take the glass door box and install it on a more original ornate-style backboard or leave it with the backboard you found it on? 

[Sargeguy]

 I will probably leave it as is for now. If anyone has a tandem backboard  laying around let me know.