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Old 16th Oct 2020, 4:29 pm   #1
Ryan_1993
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Default A Mottled brown 1930s ATM Strowgerphone I bought from Newark last week

A little bit of back story, I've been collecting vintage telephones for a few years now since around 2011 (I’m only 27 so am a spring chicken compared to most lol)

I do always look around the local car boot sales, auto jumbles and even auctions trying to spot a vintage telephone that has hopefully been mislabelled or under appreciated. I spotted this for sale on a stall for £90 and snapped it up as it looked interesting, never seen one before. From a distance I actually thought it was a Western electric 202, but as I got closer realised that it wasn’t.

From what I gather from someone online these mottled brown coloured ATM phones were used on a 14-month trial plan around the Hull area on its own private telephone network in that city. After this 14-month period, most of these phones were returned and scrapped, hence the reason why they are so rare.

Obviously, the cradle and handset should also be the same mottled brown Bakelite (as opposed to black) to match the rest of the phone and if that had been the case, I was informed that it would’ve been worth approximately £1500-£2000 due to the rarity of these models.

Initially when I mentioned what I'd bought online I did get an offer for £800 on the basis that the phone was fully original and complete. Unfortunately, this was not the case. The cradle/handset both having been replaced at some point to black versions.

In the end a second collector contacted me and we agreed upon on a price I felt was fair, especially given the general condition and limited originally of the phone itself. The collector intends to try and track down an original handset and cradle and get the phone all complete again.

I Just wondered if anyone else has ever owned or found one before? I did spot a fully original and complete one which had sold on Neil Carpenter’s site, it looks beautiful when polished and cleaned up professionally.

Given the rarity of these there is very little information online. The British telephones website only mentions the colour options for it as being "black, but possibly others".
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Last edited by Ryan_1993; 16th Oct 2020 at 4:40 pm.
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Old 24th Oct 2020, 1:58 pm   #2
dagskarlsen
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Default Re: A Mottled brown 1930s ATM Strowgerphone I bought from Newark last week

Never seen that one before. Looks nice!
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Old 27th Oct 2020, 11:16 am   #3
Brigham
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Default Re: A Mottled brown 1930s ATM Strowgerphone I bought from Newark last week

Nice looking instrument.

The fact that the cord ends in a mains plug isn't promising!
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Old 27th Oct 2020, 4:32 pm   #4
Ryan_1993
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Default Re: A Mottled brown 1930s ATM Strowgerphone I bought from Newark last week

Quote:
Originally Posted by Brigham View Post
Nice looking instrument.

The fact that the cord ends in a mains plug isn't promising!
It has been sold on to a collector now. Tbh there wasn't anything really inside what would break through.

I don't really know what sort of plug it is, I'd never seen that kind. This phone didn't have an induction coil or anything inside just wires going to some screw terminals and then onto the dial.
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Old 28th Oct 2020, 7:52 pm   #5
Brigham
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Default Re: A Mottled brown 1930s ATM Strowgerphone I bought from Newark last week

That's an ordinary 2-pin 5A British mains plug, to BS73 or, later, BS372.
It's mostly found in moulded-on form, on electric shavers and the like.
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