Cleaning Bakelite Telehones (and plastic phones)

After years of practice I believe the best way to clean Bakelite and plastic Telephones is as follows:
Carefully dismantle the telephone as much as possible. Then

1. Clean the Bakelite with a good non abrasive chrome cleaner such as autochrome. Working the cleaner into the telephone in a circular motion.
2. The next stage and most important stage is to use "paste polishing number 5" from greygate chemical products specifically designed for cleaning Bakelite telephones.
3. Finish with a good quality "carnauda" car wax (that containing no silicones)

At each stage use plenty of elbow grease and patience. For the final polish use a clean cotton duster
Please let me know if you ever find a better way to clean Bakelite phones. or have any useful information about old British telephones.

GPO Phones Blog

I have created a new Antique Bakelite Telephone blog dedicated to Antique Telephones.




So if you just want to read about GPO phones please feel free to visit this old GPO phones informational site. Dedicated to nostalgic vintage British Telephones

Which old (British) telephones are best

A few thoughts about British Antique Telephones.

The British (1930's -1940's) era older 1/232 (pyramid phones) are rarer, but they were designed without an internal bell, which is fine as an antique, but they don't have that lovely bell sound (unless you buy a separate bell). However I love the shape. Separate bells range between £25 and £75 (depending upon type).

Because they have an internal bell and because of TV programs like "deal no deal" all the later black (1940's-1950's) 300 series telephones are very popular. Amongst the 300 series I prefer (and the most sought after is) the 312 (or 314 even rarer 3 button) with draw.

My personal favourite amongst all the working series telephones with an internal bell is the ivory 312 or 332.

In summary I believe all UK based Bakelite telephones made before the late 60's are classic and collectable.

The main thing to avoid is ITI (India Telephone Industries) 300 style telephones, these are hard to spot until you get up close, but they are VERY VERY poorly constructed and I believe are nearly worthless.

I also recommend you have at least one modern (tone dialling) phone because when you are used to bush button phones the rotary phones appear to take ages to dial the number (particularly long distance calls).

Other Antique Telephone Sites

Classic 200 Series Bakelite Telephone

I am also trying to set up another Abdy Antique Telephone profile at LinkedIn about Vintage GPO Telephones. I also have a yahoo member area about Old British Bakelite Telephones .

My Hobby (first post)

As a hobby I restore and renovate old British antique phones. I have a range of these vintage / antique phones, primarily GPO (General Post Office) phones dating from the 1920's to the 1970's. I limit myself so that I only collect genuine British Telephones. I have sympathetically converted these old phones so that they will still function properly when connected to a modern BT telephone exchange line. I do not believe the conversion of these Bakelite GPO Telephones diminishes their value, because I do not remove any of the original components, I just service and adjust them and only add a small number of electrical components that can be easily removed later if needed. I also have my own antique telephone Facebook site at Old Antique & Vintage Telephones . I also convert and restore these old telephones for other people.