AE Monophone model 2 (or 12)

[Phonatic]

Snagged this on shopgoodwill.  Was pleased it was packed very well and presents nicely.  All I did was knock the dust off for the picture.  No polishing or exploring just yet.  I was happy that it was "all there," as I read somewhere that these are often found with the innards missing.  I'm anxious to polish the Bakelite case.  I believe these are, if not rare, as least a scarce phone to find.

Oh yes, another plus is the dial turns very smoothly, with good response to finger action.

[TelePlay]

I've found Novus 2 polishes Bakelite very nicely.

Is that phone black or walnut?

Very nice find! Care to tell us how much you paid?

[Phonatic]

I've found Novus 2 polishes Bakelite very nicely.

Is that phone black or walnut?

Very nice find! Care to tell us how much you paid?

It's black as far as I can tell.  I'll look at it under full sunlight tomorrow; I do think it's black though.

I got it for $130, which I thought was a decent price for what appears to be a hard-to-find phone.  I'd never seen one in the flesh before now.

Yes,  I have the full complement of Novus polishes which I intend to use on it. 

[stub]

AE-2 has two wires in the receiver and AE-12 has three wires in the receiver (induction coil receiver) and a 205 ohm wire wound resister going to #3 and #7 on terminal board. Hope this helps,  stub

[stub]

AE-12

[Kellogg Kitt]

Rare and beautiful!  It is in excellent condition, especially considering that you have not even cleaned it yet.

Novus does not work as well on Bakelite as it does on other plastics.  I have had good results with mineral oil on Bakelite.  After cleaning, apply and rub in a very light coating of mineral oil.  It is easy to use too much; if that happens, just wipe off the excess with a soft cloth and lightly rub the surface to polish. 

I did this to several of mine that were clean, but dull and dark gray.  Several years later, they still look good -- black and shiny.  I was afraid that the mineral oil might attract dust or feel oily to the touch, but that has not happened.  They do not even look oily or greasy, just nicely black and shiny.

Be careful with polishing Bakelite.  You do not want to abrade the top surface too much, or you might expose the gritty interior.

[Phonatic]

AE-12

Thank you for that valuable information!

[Phonatic]

Rare and beautiful!  It is in excellent condition, especially considering that you have not even cleaned it yet.

Novus does not work as well on Bakelite as it does on other plastics.  I have had good results with mineral oil on Bakelite.  After cleaning, apply and rub in a very light coating of mineral oil.  It is easy to use too much; if that happens, just wipe off the excess with a soft cloth and lightly rub the surface to polish. 

I did this to several of mine that were clean, but dull and dark gray.  Several years later, they still look good -- black and shiny.  I was afraid that the mineral oil might attract dust or feel oily to the touch, but that has not happened.  They do not even look oily or greasy, just nicely black and shiny.

Be careful with polishing Bakelite.  You do not want to abrade the top surface too much, or you might expose the gritty interior.

Thank you -- that's a technique which is new to me!  I'll give it a try.

[Phonatic]

This was shared with me on FB tonight.  I really didn't know the phone dated to 1926.

[stub]

Phonatic ,
          The last AE catalog I saw this phone in was " Central Battery Telephones
                                                                  and
                                                            Telephones Parts " Jan. 1 , 1929, pg.12.
That pic of the 1926 catalog was a post of mine. Nice phone, post pics of the phone inside and out to see which one you got , 2 or 12.  stub

[TelePlay]

Two different applications.

Novus 2 does a nice job making shiny surface Bakelite really shine. It cleans the shiny surface with a mild abrasive and leaves nothing behind after it's buffed off.

Novus 2 will do nothing to make dull or pitted Bakelite better.

Mineral oil will fill in the open pores of dull or pitted Bakelite, in a way rehydrating the open surface, and improve its shine. The oil soakes into the open Bakelite pores, it does not sit on the surface as wax based polishes do. Mineral oil does improve the surface shine.

Bakelite is a thermo formed resin material that is not soluble in anything, as such, acetone can be used to clean Bakelite as needed.

0000 steel wool wet with Novus 2 is a good way to clean crudded up Bakelite (using light pressure).

Lot of stuff on the forum about Bakelite restoration, this is one larger topic:

https://www.classicrotaryphones.com/forum/index.php?topic=12264.0

What you do to your phone depends on the starting condition of its Bakelite surface.

I used 0000 steel wool with Novus 2 to make this radio cabinet sparkle.

[Kellogg Kitt]

Novus 2 does a nice job making shiny surface Bakelite really shine. It cleans the shiny surface with a mild abrasive and leaves nothing behind after it's buffed off.

Novus 2 will do nothing to make dull or pitted Bakelite better.

Mineral oil will fill in the open pores of dull or pitted Bakelite, in a way rehydrating the open surface, and improve its shine. The oil soakes into the open Bakelite pores, it does not sit on the surface as wax based polishes do. Mineral oil does improve the surface shine.

I think that is exactly why I had better results with mineral oil than with Novus.  Most of my Bakelite phones were dull and dark gray.  I tried Novus first, but it did nothing.  I was scared to try steel wool; I did not want to risk making things worse.  Mineral oil (after thorough cleaning) was easy and produced good results.

[Phonatic]

Here is a shot of the interior of the phone.  Also, it can be seen that the receiver has the "vented" transmitter mentioned in the literature. 

I decided to try the mineral oil approach since I had never used it before.  Actually, the Novus would probably do a good job as well since the Bakelite was not dull at all -- just dirty.  I may yet apply the Novus at some point down the road. 

The phone will, for the time being, take up residence on a side table next to my Atwater-Kent radio speaker.  Thanks to all for their interest.

[Phonatic]

And as an added (and surprising) bonus, I put juice to the phone today, and it dialed out, transmitted fine, and rang on an incoming call.  What more could one ask?  :-)

[JudgeRob]

Wow, nice!  Pretty phone there...