Antique telephones are quite numerous on e-bay.

You may simply be looking for the old hand crank "Walton type Telephone" that hangs on the wall for display. If so, it is found in abundance usually under a manufacturers name such as Kellogg. The Kellogs are beautiful phones with dovetailed oak boxes. If you turn the crank on these phone s you will hear the bells ring. I recently met an older gentleman who told me that as a boy his family had one of these phones and he told me how they operated it. He said that they had the phone before electricity in Idaho ,and he remembered quite clearly that the family didnt get the first family radio until after the phone. The phone was a Kellogg hand crank variety and it was a party line with several neighboring farms. One or two short cranks would ring up the neighbors (you count the rings he said) and a long ring would get the operator to connect you to someone somewhere else. He said they also used combinations of long and short cranking rings produced by the magneto attached to the hand crank in the phone. The magneto looks like about five horseshoe shaped magnets with a wheel inside. He was quick to tell the story of a very severe lightning hit that came into the house through the phone wires and bounced around the kitchen table!

If you look carefully at the phones sold on e-bay you will discover that all are not the same. Many are exterior complete only, and have nothing inside the box. This is fine (and cheaper) for a simple display. However, if you want a complete phone that opens up for "show and tell" I would be inclined to pay a premium in price for such a complete phone. Be sure to ask "WHATS IN THE BOX? if your seller isnt revealing it in the photos. You have a right to know what you are getting.

Complete phones in displayable completeness may bring several hundred dollars. There are also later models that are simple copies of the originals with nothing inside the box save simulated handcranks and microphone on the exterior so it looks like a antique phone. They are ok too if of good looking wood! They should be cheaper as well. If you want a antique phone that actually does something try one of the Radio phones made by "Guild" and othe manufacturers in the 1950s and early 1960s. They look good and include a AM tube radio as a bonus!

Remember, these phone are no longer anyting but a display unless severely modified. If severely modified you may be defeating the purpose of an antique display. Hopefully this is another item we can make "live" for future generations that have never "turned the hand crank" or "heard the bells" of the past

For further info try EdisonSite.com.

Enjoy collecting these phones and share them with the grandkids.