I've spent a lot of time going to yard sales and estate sales over the years and there are some items that I just love to find. One of these items is the old fashioned rotary telephone. It is hard to believe, but there is a good chance that some people reading this right now have never even used one of these sturdy old dinosaurs. I honestly don't remember any of them ever breaking when I was young. I have gone through many cordless phones over the past decade however. Before I got a cell phone, I always kept one around for when the power went out because it would still work when the cordless phones were useless. Vintage rotary phones are not that hard to find if you are happy with the ones dating back in to the 1970s and 1980s, but what I really like to find is old bakelite telephones.

For those who might not be familiar with the word, bakelite is simply a form of plastic.  One of the first plastics used in production and it was used to make some of those great old telephones you see on TV and in the movies.  It was used in a lot more than telephones though.  Bakelite was very popular and there are actually people around today who focus their collecting on just about any bakelite items they come across. If you have an old plastic item around, it may be constructed from bakelite.  One rudimentary test is to rub your finger on the plastic hard enough that the friction causes it to heat up a bit.  Because of the chemical composition of the plastic, you can usually pick up a bit of the scent of formaldehyde when this test is done.  You may see others doing this at estate auctions as they try to figure out what something is made of before bidding.

If you decide to look for a bakelite telephone, one of the most popular phones that was sometimes made from the material was the Western Electric model 302. If you have seen any movies made between the mid 1930s in to the 1950s, there is a good chance you have seen someone on the screen speaking into one of these models. Most of the earlier models were your basic black, but later on during the years that the phone was produced, they started making it in some very cool colors. These are my favorite finds.

The 302's were meant to be low and easy maintenance telephones. Although they were made up of many parts, the construction was designed so that they would be relatively easy to repair if anything ever went wrong with them.

Should you happen to find one, you might want to either hang on to it as a very interesting conversation piece or stick it on eBay. These phones have become quite collectible and there are many people out there willing to pay a very fair price for a model that is in good shape.

Other telephones were also made from Bakelite. The 302 just happened to be one of the most commonly produced. It was widely used by the public and for that reason, it now holds quite a bit of nostalgic value for those people who grew up with one in their home.