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Old 1st Sep 2017, 8:54 am   #1
slatermethuen
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Default Can anyone identify these? Wood effect bakelite intercoms?

Hi,

I found these in the back of my parents' basement. Any ideas what it might be and how old? I can't find anything similar using Google images.

It is marked with GEC. They were in a box near a lot of servant bell boxes and related paraphernalia so maybe they are part of a domestic intercom system?

Cheers,

Andy
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Old 1st Sep 2017, 10:01 am   #2
Graham G3ZVT
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Default Re: Can anyone identify these? Wood effect bakelite intercoms?

I am wondering if they are a one-off, ie the cradles home made, and the handsets painted to match?
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Old 1st Sep 2017, 10:07 am   #3
slatermethuen
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Default Re: Can anyone identify these? Wood effect bakelite intercoms?

The quality of the bakelite seems too good for that. It is solid bakelite with no paint finish.
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Old 1st Sep 2017, 10:18 am   #4
Nickthedentist
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Default Re: Can anyone identify these? Wood effect bakelite intercoms?

Nothing obvious on Bob Freshwater's site:
http://www.britishtelephones.com/gec/qfintercom.htm

Have you tried e-mailing him pics?

Nick.
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Old 1st Sep 2017, 10:41 am   #5
slatermethuen
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Default Re: Can anyone identify these? Wood effect bakelite intercoms?

I had already seen that site but I can't find any contact details for Bob.
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Old 1st Sep 2017, 11:44 am   #6
Nickthedentist
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Default Re: Can anyone identify these? Wood effect bakelite intercoms?

Try here: http://www.britishtelephones.com/contact.htm
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Old 1st Sep 2017, 12:12 pm   #7
slatermethuen
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Default Re: Can anyone identify these? Wood effect bakelite intercoms?

How did I miss that! Thanks.
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Old 1st Sep 2017, 1:37 pm   #8
Nickthedentist
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Default Re: Can anyone identify these? Wood effect bakelite intercoms?

It's such a big, comprehensive site that it's easy to miss bits.

Let us know the outcome, please.

N.
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Old 1st Sep 2017, 1:51 pm   #9
D.Finney
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Default Re: Can anyone identify these? Wood effect bakelite intercoms?

They look like domestic or perhaps office intercom phones.
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Old 1st Sep 2017, 6:32 pm   #10
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Default Re: Can anyone identify these? Wood effect bakelite intercoms?

GEC were already selling telephones for domestic intercoms that could use existing electric bell circuits in the Edwardian era. The attached scan is an advert at the back of the book "From The Beginning" by Henry Loring, an account of the manufacturing process of the "Robertson" electric lamp bulb, that was published in 1904. It shows a telephone with separate microphones and ear pieces as per the contemporary telephone practice. The phones in the original post's photos must date from after the introduction of telephones with combined microphones and earpieces, so probably 1920's or later.
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Old 1st Sep 2017, 9:01 pm   #11
slatermethuen
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Default Re: Can anyone identify these? Wood effect bakelite intercoms?

Excellent info, thanks. That explains why they were with the servant's bell box stuff. My grandfather was an electrician in the 20's/30's so the dates make sense.
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Old 1st Sep 2017, 9:38 pm   #12
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Default Re: Can anyone identify these? Wood effect bakelite intercoms?

I meant to type "Bakelite combined microphones and earpieces", which I think were not in common use until the latter part of the 1920's. You would probably find a definitive answer in a GEC telephone catalogue of the inter-war years. When I was GEC the company archivist (who occupied the next room to me for a while) was always pleased to look up things like this for enquirers, send them photocopies, and (where copyright existed) give permission to publish without charge. Now that the collection of old catalogues has gone to Oxford as part of the Marconi collection, I do not know how easy they are to access.
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Old 2nd Sep 2017, 10:20 pm   #13
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Default Re: Can anyone identify these? Wood effect bakelite intercoms?

Bob Freshwater acquired a large part of the collection when Coventry closed = it had just been abandoned.
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