Classic 200 series Bakelite Telephones

Although this site is mostly about Retro Telephones I believe its still worth mentioning the classic British 200 series Bakelite Telephone. These antique telephones were the first Bakelite Telephones to be used in the UK. These telephones were made of Bakelite and had a separate “Bell Set” that contained the bell. However, this “Bell Set” could be mounted underneath the telephone as shown below and the telephone was then called a “combined set”. These Bakelite telephones are now regarded as extremely desirable iconic Art Deco phones in the UK (they even work on a modern landline telephone point).

Classic 1940’s British Bakelite GPO Telephone

These 200 series telephones were predominantly made in the 1940’s, however they were produced for the GPO between 1929 and 1957. These vintage telephones were produced in the standard black, rare ivory, very rare red and extremely rare jade green.

Bakelite 332 Telephones

Again although not classed as Retro I believe its worth mentioning the most popular British Bakelite telephones (classified as Antique or Vintage), known as the 300 series Bakelite telephones.

They were the first British Bakelite phones to contain an internal bell. Before this telephones always had a separate “Bell Set”. This superb telephone with its classic hard lines is very sought after today. The standard 300 series telephone was known as model 332, although the 300 series range contained several models, usually resulting in extra chrome buttons (above the dial). For example, the model 312 had an extra chrome button for shared service working (when telephone lines were shared with another telephone subscriber due to lack of available wires to the local telephone exchange).

312 GPO Antique Telephone (1954)

The other models with the extra chrome buttons are rarer than the standard 332 and hence they are more collectable and harder to find in “Grade A” condition.

In this Bakelite Telephone Era 99.9% of all these telephones were Black.

312 GPO Antique Telephone (1954)

The rarest colour for an antique 332 telephone is Green as in the one above.