Collectible Friday - Vintage Phones

Happy Spring!! Oh, Thank God. Though it looks a lot like winter but it is Spring. Oh, Thank God.

For collectible Friday, we are doing vintage phones. I love vintage phones, especially pink vintage phones. Oh sure, they don't have caller id, and sometimes they have temperamental wiring, but they work when the power goes out. And they are fun to look at.

With the exception of the black one, all of mine actually work and are in use. I have a cell phone, which I love, and in the kitchen I have a modern one but other than those, I use vintage.

The black phone is a ship phone. It was made to hang on the wall and you have to depress a button to get the handset off. This was so during rough seas it won't fall off. Plus, if you got hit with that handset it would HURT, that thing is heavy. I am going to have it rewired and hung up in the kitchen at the beach house.
The black and pink one is my favorite. It used to be by my bed. But both of my upstairs phones do not have ringers and so I needed to switch one out, so I put another pink one in my bedroom. The black and pink one hasn't found a new home yet, but it will. The little accessory laying next to it, is a dialer. Mine is a black poodle. These were made so that dialing wouldn't ruin a woman's manicure. You can find all sorts. I used to just use the end of a pencil but this is so much cuter. They come with a little clip that you can attach to your phone so they don't get lost. It is a very heavy phone.The two pink ones are from the 1960's and are commonly found, as is the yellow one.
The minty green one is a fabulous find. This is a Ericofon made by the L M Ericsson Company of Sweden. 1954 marked the beginning of production of the Ericofon. They were made for mostly industrial use, in particular hospitals. It was a one piece design which made it easier for patients to use. You pick up the phone and dial from the bottom. When you set the phone down, it hangs up. You just pick it up to answer. I love this one. Though it doesn't have a ringer, so you need another phone in the vicinity to know when to answer it. These are harder to find and slightly expensive. If you want a pretty color, you will pay more. I believe you can buy a ringer box at Radio Shack, but I haven't checked that out yet. They run in the $100.00 range to find one that works.

The yellow phone is what is known as a trim line phone. The smaller pink phone is called a princess phone. I know I feel like a princess whenever I use it. In the photo it is a little dirty. It is the phone I can get to the fastest upstairs, and since I am always decoupaging something, the phone is decoupaged as well. Someday soon I will fix that.

I also own (not shown) a bulldog phone. It is a big dog with the receiver being a bone. The dog barks instead of rings. It is cute but I find it hard to use, so I have it stored away.

The more common phones start about $25.00 and run up from there, depending on condition of phone, color of phone, and rarity of the phones feature.

You should give these a try. They are a little temperamental but overall fun to use. Plus, you can't go wrong with the color pink.