Payphones

Main Top eBay Auctions All Telephones SuperBrowse

About Antique and Vintage Payphones

For the first half of the 20th century, most payphones were built by The Gray Telephone and Pay Station Co. of Hartford, Connecticut under contract with Western Electric and other leading companies. In 1889 William Gray got a patent for his innovative coin payment mechanism, which others were unable to replicate. The company also pioneered the popular and highly collectible 'three-slot' (nickel, dime, quarter) payphone configuration popular in the 1940s, 50s and 60s.

Before three-slots, Gray made ‘coin collectors,’ or telephones that required coins to be used to activate them. Some were separate units that attached to a wood wall or candlestick phone and just collected the coin. The operator could hear the coin going in over the line, and authorize the call. Some were a combination coin collector and built-in phone. They sat on bar tops or in phone booths or at a boarding house or a dime store. These coin operated devices locked the phone so people couldn’t use it until money was deposited to make the phone operational.

▼ Expand this section

Interviews & Articles

An Interview With Antique Telephone Collector Gary Goff

An Interview With Antique Telephone Collector Gary Goff

How did I get started collecting antique telephones? As a kid I always liked phones, using them, talking on t…  [more]

An Interview With Ericofon Telephone Collector Richard Rose

An Interview With Ericofon Telephone Collector Richard Rose

I like mechanical things. I’ve collected outboard motors, things like that in the past. I got into the tele…  [more]



Best of the Web (“Hall of Fame”)

The Telephone Archive

The Telephone Archive

If you're into old phones, check out this 600-page repository of images and historical information. Includes an ext…  [more]

Ericofon.com

Ericofon.com

Richard Rose's tribute to the Ericofon, a colorful, stylish concept phone introduced in Europe in the 1950's and th…  [more]

Kelloggtelephone.com

Kelloggtelephone.com

Mike Neale's fantastic collection of scanned PDFs showcasing the history and products of the Kellogg Switchboard an…  [more]

Old Telephones as Entertainment

Old Telephones as Entertainment

For those who want highly detailed information on specific Western Electric antique and vintage telephone models su…  [more]


Got a site to suggest? Let us know.




Clubs & Associations


Discussion Forums


Other Great Reference Sites

Are we missing one? Tell us.

Top eBay Auctions    (get weekly Payphones email)

Status       Display       How this works
Gray Pay Station, Restored, Working $450.00 Ends Saturday 16 bids
Antique Pay-phone $77.00 Ends in 2 hours 15 bids
Pay Phone Parts - Ringer Box All Metal $27.99 Ends in 20 hours 4 bids
Pay Phone Western Electric 3 Slot 197 $26.00 Ends Friday 7 bids
Pay Phone Parts - Ringer $12.50 Ends in 20 hours 2 bids
Pay Phone Instruction Cards Four Original 3 Slot $12.00 Ends in 3 hours 5 bids
Pay Phone Western Electric 3 Slot Top Half $11.59 Ends in 3 hours 3 bids
Payphone $10.50 Ends Saturday 2 bids
Automatic Electric Payphone Parts $7.50 Ends Saturday 3 bids

»» Get our weekly Payphones email
Right now on eBay

Telephones

See also

Tools