Summary

Alternate Name(s): Phone; Rotary Dial Phone; Rotary Phone; Dial Phone

Toy rotary dial phone. It is made of wood with moving dial. The handset is attached with string.

The first rotary phone was patented in the 1890s, but they remained popular until at least the 1980s, when they were phased out by push-button dialling phones. The style of this toy phone looks similar to types made in the 1930s and 1940s, such as the Western Electric Co.'s WE 302, which was made from 1937-1958 (Telephone Archive).

Part of a dolls' house, built around 1920 by Neil McArthur for his much younger half-sister Elizabeth (Beth) Twycross, born in 1917. Neil made the doll's house out of found materials including cigar boxes; he also made many of the furnishings in the doll's house. Some of the contents of the doll's house may date back to the 1860s, played with by ancestor Charlotte Twycross; most date to either the 1920s or the 1940s-50s. In the early 1950s the donor was given the spruced-up doll's house as a birthday present by her parents. In later years her own daughter later added items, although she wasn't allowed to play due to its fragility.

Physical Description

Toy phone. Made of wood and painted black. Moving dial attached with a small nail. Handset attached with string.

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