Thanks for the photos Damien. I have been collecting old phones since 1963 so it was not hard to spot the outline of the transmitter mount which is distinctly Western Electric.

In fact that is earlier than the 1909 model which is more common. I would say that your phone has had a rebuild at some stage as there would have originally been a short wire coming out of the back of the transmitter (microphone). That may have been when the Stromberg-Carlson receiver (earpiece) was fitted in place of the original WE one.

Assuming that the internal wiring has not been removed from your phone, then a No.1 bellset as used with PMG 'candlestick' phones should work as it was the standard WE Common Battery circuit. However you may find that the 'solid-back' transmitter has gone faulty or 'packed' in the last 100 or so years.

Andrew

In the days of smoko during the 1970s an LP was a prefix for a lovely pound !!!! lol most people of the under 34 age group not up on the old sayings or references as to what we called items - sad really, the educational process at schools in respect to the correct dialect of speaking appears to have been sidetracked stamped out, and forgotten, this took place when all the pollie correct crap came in!

I once worked in a factory alongside a chap from Kenya ( he was as black as midnight ) - his name if anybody could pronounce it, was about 27 letters long! so we gave up talking to him - he turned around and said ''just call me chalky '' and we did! by god he was happy lol !!!

We need to have the new generation re -schooled into the 1950's dialects of speaking - hell))) we'd even have Australian ways returned to us !

Very sad state of affairs the way things have gone - when one thinks about it !