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- Steve Hilsz -

The wooden telephones (some people mistakenly call them "receivers") on the 1877 coffin set below were made by the artist John Infurna.  Steve is still trying to find the difference between them and the genuine 1877 article.  John made these 5 or 10 years ago. They replaced a set of "dummy" telephones that Bell Telephone Laboratories had mocked up for display purposes.

The Bell Tap set is shown as found, with no front cover. Because of the similarities between this set and a magneto set known to have been manufactured circa 1880 by Western Electric Company, it is believed this is probably an 1879 telephone. It would have been used with a glass jar battery and some form of carbon transmitter (probably an Edison version). The gong on the top of this set is turned of wood instead of brass.

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