About Matilo

Arwin Schaddelee
Arwin Schaddelee

­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­My name is Arwin Schaddelee and I collect and restore antique and vintage telephones. I primarily collect rotary dial telephones. At least, I try to limit myself to those. And then I try to stick to telephones that were in use here in the Netherlands.

Nevertheless, I do try to buy any telephones I find interesting enough.

Besides that, I have a number of sub-collections.

Red telephones

Ericsson Dialog
Ericsson Dialog

This gives my collection some direction and keeps me from buying any phone I can find. J I collect only those that were red originally and not repainted at a later moment. It does not matter if it is a rotary dial phone or not. As long as it is red…….

Heemaf 1955

One of the very few completely Dutch telephones ever made. Dutch design,

Heemaf 1955 jan '55
Heemaf 1955 jan ’55

Dutch manufacturer and a very unusual design too. Also it is the very first telephone in my collection. I try to collect every version there is.

Ericsson model 1931

Just a beautifull telephone and far ahead of its

time. This telephone influenced telephone designs for decades. I collect Dutch

Ericsson model 1931 (DBH1001)
Ericsson model 1931 (DBH1001)

versions of it, but also telephones that were derived or inspired by it.

Siemens & Halske Modell 27/W28

This model was the first telephone that was manufactured industrially in the

Netherlands, by Heemaf in Hengelo. Production started in 1931. I collect early

Siemens & Halske Vsa tist 95a
Siemens & Halske Vsa tist 95a

versions of this telephone, from the late 20s, early 30s.

I also collect related equipment like installation material and peripheral equipment and of course literature about telephones.

Restoring

Heemaf 1955 W Knolled
Heemaf 1955 W Knolled

Aside from collecting telephones I really enjoy restoring them. I try restore them back to their original state. I try to use as much original parts and techniques as possible. I do not want to make them more beautiful than they ever were. Restoring does not mean to make the telephone look as new as possible.

Sometimes I do a restoration projects for others. I also restore telephones that are surplus to my requirements and sell them on the internet.

Website

ribbonOn this website I try to put the kind of information that I myself was looking for when I started collecting and restoring. There is nog much information around on the internet on Dutch telephony and what there is, is rather scanty. And a lot of sites by collectors do not give any additional information about the phones that are pictured.

I also try to share as much methods and techniques for restoring telephones as I can.

I started filling this website in 2013 and the process still continues. As I learn more myself, find more information and add telephones to my collection, I try to share this on my website.

Why the name Matilo?

I do not only have an unusual first name, but also a surname that is rare and most Dutch people have difficulty remembering it correctly. You may well imagine that for non-Dutch people it is even harder.

That is a huge disadvantage if you want to be easily recognisable on the internet. That is why I tried to find a name that is easy to remember, also for non-Dutch speakers.

I thought it would be nice to choose something that fits me and has something to do with who I am. That is why I chose Matilo.

Matilo is the name of a Roman army camp that used to be a stone’s throw away from where my house is today.

For more information on how that site looks today, here is the website of park Matilo

And here is a piece on Matilo on Wikipedia.

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