This is as rare as they come. It is the earliest GPO 162 I have seen and is dated 1930 on the metal base and in the oval in the handset. All the telephones from this period I have found are Siemens models. This one has a metal plate CB label holder and an original label. I have never seen one of these although I have seen a larger dial label and wondered what it was made for and now I know. I have simply cleaned it up a little but left everything as is and so the feet are poor and the bell set has a foot missing. Because this is a very early telephone it has a metal internal connection block and the body has a metal insert at the dial location. Note it has the very rare cradle which was only fitted to the earliest of models and usually broke or got replaced when refurbished. I connected it up to my test equipment and it works with no parts changed. If it is to be used it would need to have some more modern parts fitted to bring up to modern standards but these would be totally reversible with no damage at all. I am sure this will be kept as a museum type collector’s piece but it is nice to know it will work.
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