Fun Old-Style Phones
Crosley Radio makes old telephones new again - which is to say, they take the same designs that were used decades ago and update them to work with modern electronics. Each of these phones has flash, volume control, redialing, and pushbutton technology despite the appearance of being rotary dial.
This pink pay phone doesn’t actually require money to place calls, but if you do want to use the coin slots it does function as a bank! This one is a replica of a 1950’s style phone, but if you’re curious about other eras you can read up on pay phone history.
Crosley’s pink Princess phone is a 1960’s replica of the phone that was famous for being small. Previously, phones had been big and bulky - see below! - but the Princess was designed to fit right on your bedside table. I was surprised to learn from Wikipedia that the Princess phone was still in production until 1994!
By the way, the original pink Princess phones are more expensive, as they are one of the more rare colors. Here is one of those big desk phones - Crosley’s pink Kettle Classic phone, based on a 1930’s design that was popular in Europe. Telephone service had really taken flight in the 1930’s, and just for fun here is a picture of San Francisco’s first Chinese telephone operator, which is from about that same era.
The last phone I’m featuring in this set is not by Crosley, it’s actually by Southern Telecom. Their antique phone is a playful update of a 1920’s design, but the pink version is only available from Target. If you’ve enjoyed this trip down a (very pink) memory lane, you might also enjoy the Cyber Telephone Museum and the Telephone Tribute website.