I honestly enjoy going to estate sales and checking out what is around.  Every once in a while I manage to find an old bakelite telephone hidden away in a corner behind all of the big ticket items.  These seem to be getting harder and harder to find.  I didn't find any good ones at all last year and my brother is the one who found this very cool orange model.  (Don't miss the video below about the making of these phones.)

This is one item I wish I had hung on to for myself.  It is in beautiful shape, but alas, I did go ahead and sell it.  I've found and sold others without any regrets, but this phone was so cool and the color was amazing.  Anyway, as they become available to me, I'll list them on eBay and you will see them here.  If I don't have any, I'll still have this post set up to show you some live auctions for bakelite telephones.

There are a lot of people who head to eBay looking specifically for bakelite items.  Bakelite was one of the first plastics and it was used for a wide variety of applications.  Telephones were one such use.  I am not an expert but I did do some research when I started finding these neat old items.  One thing I learned is that you can do a quick test at an estate or garage sale to get an idea if something is made from bakelite.  When you rub your finger vigorously against the plastic and heat it with the friction, you can sometimes catch a whiff of the formaldehyde that was used in its production.  Next time you see someone sniffing a piece of plastic at an estate sale, you will know what they are doing...probably.

Older rotary phones have become quite collectible.  Some are obviously harder to come by than others.  I believe the one I've shown here is a Western Electric Model 302 phone.  These were introduced to consumers in 1937 and were the workhorse of the  line.  It seems to me that I've found many more of these in black than in any other color as I've searched every weekend.  The plastic shells were used on these models from 1941 through 1954 and the colored varieties weren't made available until late in the run.  The cord on this particular phone is straight and covered with a brownish orange fabric.

The 302 was built to be a rugged phone that could easily be repaired.  The ones I have found have held up quite well.

Although I find a lot of older rotary phones as I go from place to place, this is probably one of my favorite styles.  I say that not just because they usually sell pretty well, but because the phones look great and are built to last.

I found this great old video from Bell that describes how the Bakelite Telephone was constructed.  If you like these phones, you've got to watch this video!

Second Hand Home

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