And if you know me personally, you may also know that I am a little s-l-o-w getting with the times; I mean, I still have a slide-type cell phone (eek! it's 2 years old! for shame!).... I wouldn't say I can't let go of possessions; that's just not me; and you must understand that I began having my own thoughts and ideas in my teens and twenties which were in the 80's and 90's.... and as far as I'm concerned, the only things that came out of the 80's and 90's were very big hair and extremely bad fashions; I guess what I'm getting at is that I don't hold on to things for nostalgic reasons, I'm not a hoarder; I'm an appreciator of things from the past.... However, I did meet my husband in 1990.... so, I guess something good did come out of those times for me :P
Aaaanyway, both Mr. Monkey and myself like vintage and antique items, and I guess I can't take credit for this as Mr. Monkey was the one who found and purchased it; but, I do love it.... I love the sound of the ring, with just two ring settings: hi or low; which truth be told, are both ear piercingly LOUD! I'm just not in love with the colour; I'm on the hunt for an avocado green 'chicklet' push-button wall mount (do you know the one I'm talking about?). Anyhow, here it is....
Our bedroom phone.... the rotary dial; when speed dial referred to how fast you could whip the numbers around with the strength of your own fingers; in the days before cell phones and wireless connections; before i-pods and wii....
Those days were simpler. A little less hectic-rush-rush-go-go. A stark difference from then to now, don't you think?
The modern version of the rotary phone came into the Bell System around 1919. Models, like the one we have, with a plastic rotary, were introduced around 1949. These models began to phase out in the 1960's after the introduction of push-button dialing at the 1962 World's Fair held in Seattle Washington.
I can tell you this much about these phones. They are reliable, they are well built and weigh a TON! You can still use these phones in your home as long as they've been rewired with proper jacks; or hardwired right into your phone wiring system; and also as long as you have a modern push-button phone somewhere in your home. Modern phone systems and emergency dialing systems do not support the rotary phone.
We found this one at a very junky flea market in the city close to where we live. I think we paid $20 dollars for it. A fair price, I think, for a little piece of history; a tiny slice of a slower time....
Have a great day people ;)
lovely - thanks for the memory of using my Grammie and Grampies phone!! love it! Luckily for us, we lived is such a small town you only had to dial the last 4 digits of a number!
ReplyDeleteAnd bonus - with the weight you have a built-in burglar-bashing weapon (since you couldn't call 911 on it lol).