The Bakelite Telephone
Heavy, black, and wired into the wall for life.
The GPO 332 sat in the hall on a special table, weighed about the same as a brick, and had a drawer for the numbers you actually rang.
You did not own your telephone, you rented it from the Post Office, and you got whatever colour they gave you, which was black. The dial had a satisfying mechanical whirr on the return and a party line meant your neighbour could listen in.
Phone calls were expensive enough that conversations were short and slightly formal. The hall was cold. That was the point: you were not meant to linger.
Cost back then
Rental, around £5 a year
Goes for now
£40–£120 restored
