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Please besure to read the description as the payphone is sold as shown anddescribed; and if you have any questions please call us at Phoneco[phone removed by ]. No returns. We are not responsible for your mistakefor not reading our description. Sold as shown in the photographs,please see photos for best description of cosmetic condition andstyle.
Shipping applies to the lower 48 States, please send an email if you have questions or to request shipping charges for International shipping, and shipping toAlaska, Hawaii and Puerto Rico which will cost extra as determined by weight and size.
This item will ship on the following Wednesday or Thursday after offer close and payment is received.
Thisphone does not work and is not wired so it will not immediately work.
This197 is labeled in typical red Western Electric inside the top housing“197G III 58”.
Untilthe 197 came along, time frames of manufacturing were somewhatdistinguished and identifiable. 197S have been found to be hodgepodge and willie-nillie in attire sometimes a mixture with 180s andearly 190s. When I was confronted with decision on how to return the 197to original visual attire, the choices were not simple, since I hadseen a variety. Open slots, buckets, coin rejection, security locks,G or F handsets all adorned these. On page 271in the \"Payphone History Book\" lists the 195 info from the1952 Bell System practices handbook declares it as a bucket converted191. It is believed that when the 197 was made or converted from an\"earlier number: it became the first with a coin reject (or\"coin return\") button. Any #197 ,or 200 series payphone represents the 1950\'s. The 234 and 236 aremore likely of the 1960\'s but show almost no difference from the1950\'s. Characteristicswhich clearly differ between early 190 series and the 197 (and morerecent) are not always present. There may beminute detail differences in a few internal parts individualizingeach 200 number, but I did not study these differences. I have faiththat B.B. would recognize/acknowledge and perhaps recorded thesedifferences. 98% of us simply don\'t care/are complacent about thesedetails. In summary,nearly all visual parts of 233, 234, and 236 are similar. Even thelower numbers including some #197\'s have few features which set themapart from the others unless when converted from earlier numbers donot reveal any peculiar uniqueness. They can all be considered simply1950\'s payphones. I do recallthe observation that the 197\'s that I observed in the early-mid1990\'s had various characteristics mixing 1940 with 1965. Many had Ghandsets and a few had F handsets. It showed that even though changescame about in later years, some payphones escaped them. Since N.E.began making payphones in 1956 (see page 196 and following pages in\"Payphone History\") with the 197\'s, the N.E. name tag mayhave been used. Althoughthere were probably 197\'s with the N.E. tag, I encountered only 1 or2.
Non-handsetphones are called “2-pc” (2 piece) because the receiver isseparate from the transmitter and not combined into one piece. Theonly difference between each 2-pc phone is 1: whether it\'s chrome ornot, 2: whether it\'s dial or non-dial, and 3: what it says on thefront (Gray Pay, Gray Mfg or Gray-Western Electric). Allthe older phones are working. They do not require coin, they neverput ringers in them.
“Two Piece” telephones phased out largely after WWII. It is said that Bell ended their manufacture in 1940 but Gray continued tooffer them (see pages 176-185 in Phoneco’s “Payphone History”). I’m offering all my old phones for sale as I want to cease dealing with them. Due to the absence of a chart, an attempt here will be to show new manufactures and conversions. The 180 series was new manufacture in 1940. 181s were converted to and given new numbers such as 191 in 1949, 193 and 198 in 1950. 196 in 1953. The 1949 191 (which was converted from a 181) were converted to a 200 in 1957. The 197 (which were converted from 191 plusa new mfg), was converted to a 223 and 233 in 1957. The 200 was converted to a 203 which was converted to a 210 in 1957 and 1960.
I wantno-longer to be a wheeler-dealer in old telephones; now preferring tosell l out and to enter the realm of retirees even though I amyoung, having been born in 1935.
In the 1980\'s Ihandled thousands of old payphones, most of which were 1950s-1972s.Comparably, very few were from the teens to the late 1940s.
Recently, I wasasked: What would be the best investment in handset phone? I\'llanswer this charitably in a sharing manner (not as a capitalist orentrepreneur). Answer: 1940. This was not the first payphone with ahandset, but like Bell is considered the inventor, the 1940 W.E. #180series is labeled the first (probably high production) handsetpayphone.
Whether you buythis one or one like it from anyone, here are some \"tips\".If both the top-front and the backboard are both marked with a #181,182 or 183, and the bottom housing has an open slot with a name-plateabove the door saying: \"coin return\" it then is a true180-series. Regardless of any stampings what so ever or, if thereis/are no number/s anywhere such as 181,182,or 183, 191, 193 or 195.Look for the following clues: the backboard is quite heavy cast iron.The top housing should have a \"daisy-dial\" shroud that isof thin steel (not the thick cast (\"pot metal\" as on the200-series) with nuts shown visually on studs which hold the dialface-plate in place.
A 191 may havethe same credentials. I\'ve never refused to discuss these things withsomeone who is confronted with a decisionwhile standing in anantique shop looking at a payphone.
