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Bells Box Telephone
The first telephone was created in March 10, 1876 by Alexander Graham Bell. The Phone weighed 1.75 and was sold for $3,995. -
Period: to
1800's
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Top Box
This 1879 top box wall set was made with mahogany wood and Viaduct Manufacturing Co. hardware. -
Gower-Bell telephone
The Gower-Bell telephone was the first type of phone that was used in countries like Spain, Japan and England. -
Wood cradle desk telephone
Not much is known about the manufacturer of this unique wooden cradle desk telephone dated around 1885. -
Western Electric folding cabinet
The Western Electric folding cabinet was used in hotels, telephone booths and private homes. -
Strowger 10 Digit Automatic Wall Telephone
The Strowger Automatic Telephone Exchange Company's 10 digit automatic wall telephone was the first to use an automatic rotary motion dialer. -
Stromberg-Carlson tapered shaft desk set
Made by the Stromberg-Carlson Telephone Mfg. Co., these types of upright desk sets were nicknamed "oil cans" by antique telephone collectors because of its unique shape. -
Kellogg corner vanity
This corner vanity's elegant frame made by American Hardwood Telephone Cabinet Mfg. Co. The telephone hardware was made by Kellogg Hardware. -
Chicago upright desk set
This upright desk set made by the Chicago Telephone Supply Company is often called "potbelly" because of its curvy shape." -
Strowger 11 digit desk telephone
Almon Brown Strowger was a mortician that believed his local operator was directing all business calls to his competitor, who happened to be her husband. Strowger felt that subscribers should have control over calls rather than operators. He patented the automatic telephone exchange a.k.a. dial service in 1891, eliminating the need for an operator to direct calls. -
S.H. Couch & Co. inter-phone
These S.H. Couch Company desk sets were typically used to interoffice communications. -
De Veau Desk Set
This sleek desk top was made by the De Veau Telephone Manufacturing Company. -
Magnavox anti-noise desk set
The Magnavox anti-noise desk set is an early example of noise-cancellation technology. The phone began to make gain popularity in the military in the 1920s. -
Frankfurt "Bauhaus" Telephone
The Frankfurt "Bauhaus" Telephone was made by the Fuld & Co. in Frankfurt, Germany. -
Hungarian Telephone Factory
This rotary phone was made by the Hungarian Telephone Factory in Budapest, Hungary. -
Rotary phone
A typical 1940s rotary phone who was created by Almon Brown Strowger (The perso who made the rotary dial) -
Rotary phone
A typical 1950'S Rotary phone. -
German Fe TAp 615
A common phone in the 1960s through 1980s. -
Videophone
An example of a videophone in the 1960s -
Princess phones
These princess phones were popular from the 1970s through the 1980s. -
AT&T Picturephone (Mod II)
One of the first videophones by AT&T. -
Dutch phone
A typical Dutch phone in 1975. -
AEG telecar CD
This is how mobile phones looked in the 1980s. -
Touch-tone phone
If you were a teenager in the 1980s, this is one of the best Phones you could've had. -
Touch-tone phone
A typical table-top phone in the 1980s. -
Motorola DynaTAC 8000X
Behold the first commercial line of mobile phones launched in 1983. -
Motorola MicroTAC 9800x
Only really important people and early adopters had one of these cell phones. -
Cordless phone
A typical cordless phone in the 1990s. -
Seimens AG GSM phone
The first GSM phones were not very sleek. -
IBM Simon
The IBM Simon is widely considered the first smart phone. -
Motorola StarTAC
The flip phone craze started with this Motorola cell phone. -
Nokia 8210
Nokia dominated the wireless market with cell phones like this one. -
Sharp J-SH04
Available in Japan, the Sharp J-SH04 was the first camera phone. -
BlackBerry 7210
The first BlackBerry with a color screen. -
Palm Treo 600
The Palm Treo was an addictive PDA and phone combination. -
Motorola Razr
Flip phones were at their peak when the Motorola Razr v3 hit the market. -
iPhone
The smartphone that arguably changed our lives forever. The iPhone's operating system allowed users to browse full webpages, triangulate positioning with Google maps and easily download apps. -
T-Mobile G1
The T-Mobile G1, also known as the HTC Dream, was the first mobile phone to use Google's Android operating system. -
BlackBerry Storm
The highly anticipated Storm was the first BlackBerry with a touchscreen. -
Nokia Lumia 800
This Windows 7 smartphone introduced Microsoft's "metro" user interface. -
IPhone 6
An employee of Softbank mobile phone shop displays Apple's new iPhone 6 (R) and iPhone 6 Plus (L) at the company's Omotesando shop in Tokyo, Sept. 19, 2014. Over 200 customers queued up for Apple's new iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus before opening the shop.