The
Candlestick, or Pedestal telephone
was most widely used in the 1920’s, but there were some very ornate versions
manufactured as early as the 1890’s.
The
US versions are often referred to as the Elliott Ness phone as a reference to
the era, and also to the their use in movies of this era. In the UK they are
sometimes called the “Daffodil phone”.
In
Australia, the term “Candlestick” is most common, while the much later
Ericofon pedestal, has often been called the “Homicide” phone in reference
to their use in the very popular TV series of the same name.
The
European versions were quite different in style to the UK/US as is shown in my European
pages.
Pedestal telephones
,
(including the candlestick
) made
their entry around 1900, with some extremely ornate varieties produced in the US
and Europe. Although the European
telephones were very different pedestal designs, they had a common objective of
reduced “footprint” to occupy less desk space
These pictures show before and after restoration of a Stromberg-Carlson
“oil can”
manufactured
between 1901 and 1905.
This is
an example where the underlying telephone had almost no damage, but a century of
grime has damaged the original nickel plate finish to such an extent that a new
finish was needed.
Typically of all manufacturers, the ornate styles disappeared in favour of the more austere and economic styles of the early 1900’s when more paint, black japanning etc were used instead of nickel-plating.
The following pictures show some more examples (mostly of USA manufacture), and also a couple of the very popular "lamp conversions".
