Here I have a Heemaf type 1955 desk telephone from the 2nd month of production, februari 1955. I had been looking for such an early one for quite a while. The problem is that people who sell such a phone, often neglegt to take a picture of the bottom of the phone. But in the end I found one, succeeded in negotiating a price and got it home safely.
And it appears to be an very nice and clean specimen. The bakelite is still really nice, and the inside is fairly clean and neat. It appears to be complete too.
It is a Heemaf 1955 desk phone without earthing button. On top of the phone is a black round blanc, with the letters PTT. If the phone has an earthing button, which is white, it would be where that blanc inset piece is.
Early versions of this telephone are more often without an earthing button, than later examples although buttonless telephones were made right untill the end of the production period.
Why do I want such a phone? Well, ,the Heemaf 1955 is one of the models of which I try to collect all variants. This is one of my favorite models.
Of course it would be interesting to compare such an early example to see if any details differ from the later ones.
There are differences, but not many. First two things stood out to me. First is the format of the production dat. Usually that woulb be M YY expressent in numerals. It should have been 2 55 for this phone. But in this case it says – februari 1955.
Furthermore there is a white label. It is ellegible, but it appears to be a refurbishment sticker of CPW. This phone has been refurbished and is no longer totally original. Yes, I noticed the cloth cords had been replace by vinyl ones.
The inside shows some more differences. Firstly the bells are shiny, instead of the later half matt (silk) finish. And the capacitor is different . It has rounded corners and the PTT logo is embossed in relief.
I could not find any more details in which this phone differs from later ones.
The dial too is a normal one, although the back plate of it is cracked. Sadly this phone suffered a nasty blow to the dial, damaging it. It shall have to be replaced.
The dial does a big number 15 in red numerals. I have seen those big red letters on parts on other early examples of this phone. I have yet to discover what they mean. Assuming this is the original dial, I noticed there is no production date on it, as is normal for later ones. Possibly this is another detail of an early model.
The inside of this housing has a diagram, as is normal for this type of telephone. The is only one diagram; there are not more of them, one pasted of the others.
If during refurbishment the wiring was altered, the phone would receive a new diagram, the old one pasted over with the new one.
As I write before, this phone is not totally original anymore. It has had a refurbishment and its cloth cords have been replace by vinyl ones. Apart from that, the dial needs to be replaced.
There is no doubt one day I will restore this telephone. But I am going to search for a better and more original example. Preferably one from januari 1955. With cloth cords of course. And if at all posible in its original box. 🙂
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