This FH 34 phone has the added bonus of a GPO mottled brown bakelite dial and there are only one or two of these around. Neither of these two phones is currently in the UK.
Even without the bell-set, the mottled brown GPO 162 is an impossible to find phone. I am guessing that 10 or less of these exist in good condition, but I am interested to hear what others think.
#5
Another early feature is the single cable entry hole on the back of the phone, as opposed to the regular two holes (e.g. as seen on the Gleneagles Gecophones).
This is a KS7302 GECophone (Gleneagles brown Gecophones are KS 7549). The nickel plated dial blank matches the standard GEC early metal plunger. (GEC also used a metal nickel plated plunger on the early black Gecophones and this was covered in a black rubbery paint.)
Rod Jones has confirmed that all Gleneagles Gecophones’ capacitors are dated 1933 and that none had the early internals or the single cable entry point to the back of the phone. The black early internals GECophone on this site is dated 1931.
Drop me an email if you know about these phones.
#46
Thanks to renowned collector/dealer Rod Jones for correcting some of the myths in britphones.com’s original draft! And for providing detailed information on his discovery of these phones. Rod tells me that he “is delighted to have provided this extra information to britphones.com for the purpose of intriguing and enlightening collectors worldwide!”
Rod’s lucky find
Rod settled in Edinburgh in Dec 1974 to work as Commercials Producer at Radio Forth, the city’s first commercial radio station.
In 1985, as a sideline to his career in broadcasting, Rod began collecting and converting Bakelite telephones. In next to no time, Rod came across an opportunity to buy some 20 Gecophones plus a green GEC tropical 300 series, which had been languishing in a storeroom at the Gleneagles Hotel. Following many months of haggling, in November 1986, Rod eventually struck a price with the Hotel and the deal was done.
The Gecos were creatively “silvery-pewter-bronze-gold” sprayed, with subtle shadows to the sides and front. But, ironically Rod’s prize was the green GEC 300 series.
After the long drive home from Auchterarder to Edinburgh, Rod started to open up the Gecophones. Beneath the lacquered spray, Rod found that most were black…BUT to his surprise, delight and good fortune he found that a small number of the phones were in a medley of shades of flame mahogany, burgundy and claret-wine colour.
About the Gleneagles Gecophones
The Gleneagles Gecos were ordered by the Hotel’s owner London, Midland and Scottish Railway (LMS) in 1933 and were intended to be part of its Art Deco ambience. There were probably over 100 Gecos in use at the Hotel from 1933 until almost all of these were dumped during a 1974 refurbishment. Thankfully, a few examples survived in a storeroom.
All Gleneagles Gecos are KS7549 models and all were made in 1933 (etched on the capacitor). For the red-brown phones, the cradles are typically darker than the rest of the phone (speckled brown over a deep red brown background), although different cradle variants exist.
It is understood that the GEC’s Coventry works chose to spray discarded experimental, never-issued Gecos in a medley of muted flame mahogany-claret-burgundy colours. As these phones were destined to be sprayed, the underlying colours were of no consequence. GEC reportedly experimented with no fewer than 5 shades of brown/red-brown during the early 1930s.
Silvery receiver and line cords were fitted and luckily some cords survived thanks to clearly sympathetic removal from the hotel system. However, only about 10 original dial labels survived.
The Gleneagles Gecos all have the metal lined dial inserts, which is a hallmark of the earliest pyramid style phones. However, they have the 232 style internals and two cable entry points at the rear of the phone, in contrast to the very first Gecos which have cast metal 162 style internals, plus a single cable entry point at the rear of the phone (see the 1930 and 1931 examples featured on this website).
The jewel in Rod’s private collection, is a fully claret & burgundy Gleneagles Geco with a “GEC” stubby cradle (unlike the 162 cradle style as pictured here). This example has a claret-wine body, cradle, plunger and dial blank, with a burgundy Handset.
About the Gleneagles Hotel and its owner London-Midland-Scottish Railway (LMS)
Nestled in the small town of Auchterarder located North of the Ochil Hills in Perth and Kinross, Scotland, the Gleneagles Hotel was built by Caledonian Railways 1923-4. In 1924, just before the Hotel’s debut, Caledonian merged with the historically celebrated LMS. The Hotel had its grand gala opening June 7, 1924…golf and fashionable hotels being all the rage of 1920s-1930s era.
The hotel rooms initially had candlestick phones and these were replaced by more modern opulently lacquered Gecos in 1933.
The Gecos would have been handled by the rich & famous and dedicated golfers, and were also in use when the Hotel was used as a hospital during WW2.
In 1974, on its 50th anniversary, the Hotel was completely refurbished.
About this phone
This phone is in perfect condition, having been stripped of all paint and cleaned and polished by master craftsman Robert Angel.
It was one of two Gecos sold at the Lyon and Turnbull auction in April 2016.
This phone’s twin was allegedly spotted some years ago at the Powerhouse Museum in Sydney. Please contact me if you have any further information on the twin!
This phone and its base spent many years apart and were recently reunited with the help of top Australian collector Tim Murphy. We don’t know how long these items have been separated, but perhaps 40 years or more.
The base of this phone was acquired in early 2014 from a mature ex AWA employee. This gentleman recalled that the phone was for many years on display at the AWA PMG workshop in Melbourne, together with some other interesting coloured phones (but could not recall the details).
The rest of the phone was acquired in the early 2000s from another top Australian collector, who had just acquired it from a deceased collector’s estate. Prior to this, the phone may have been exhibited at an Australian phone collectors’ event. I bought this phone together with an AWA red 162 (which also came from the same deceased estate) and it would seem consistent that the red 162 was also one of the display phones from the AWA factory in Melbourne.
The phone has a Siemens mottled brown cradle, plunger and handset. AWA did not produce these components in patchwork mottled brown and the ex AWA employee has confirmed this. Further, an injection molding specialist who examined the base agreed that the manufacturing process needed to produce the patchwork mottling effect would have required a pressed mould, which could not have been used to create components with complex surfaces such as a cradle, plunger and handset.
The red AWA 162 came together with an absolutely perfectly matching red Siemens 25 bell-set – it is possible that in the mid-1930s, AWA used Siemens to supply the no 25 bell-set for its red 162 and likewise used standard Siemens mottled brown parts to complete its patchwork mottled brown 162.
An interesting feature of the Siemens handset is that it has a blank centre oval – previously, I have only seen blank ovals on post war handsets, but it makes sense that AWA would not want the centre piece of its display to bear another manufacturer’s logo.
#71
All parts of the phone are marked AWA and it is believed that AWA used Siemens to source the bell-set. The bell-set and phone are an absoluetely perfect colour match, even today.
Both phone and bell-set are manufactured from D material, which was used in the mid to late 1930s.
#70
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