Telephone

PeriodCirca 1915

Place OwnedUnited States

MediumEnameled steel, brass, celluloid, iron, wire, wool felt

Dimensions12 × 5.25 in. (30.5 × 13.3 cm)

SignedAn enameled metal tag is riveted to the telephone below the earpiece stamped "Property of / American Tel & Tel. Co. / 997 / Pat. U.S.A. ME1392919." The ring and bracket fitting attached over the earpiece is stamped "Pat. In U.S.A. Oct. 24 1905. July 1, 1906 / Western Electric Co., 128 [illegible]." The telephone base is stamped "Western Electric Company / Pat. In U.S.A. / Aug. 15 '04 - Sept. 13 '04 - Jan 26 '15."

ClassificationsAdvertising, Business & Ornamental Artifacts

Credit LineGift of Judith M. Strunk, 2002

Object number2002.15.4

DescriptionAn early candlestick style telephone, with a weighted dome-shaped base lined on the underside with dark brown wool felt padding. The telephone's central shaft is topped with a trumpet-shaped earpiece mounted to the shaft between a pair of brackets, held in place with a screw, allowing the earpiece to swivel and adjust.A flat ring and bracket fitting is attached to the top of the earpiece frame, held in place with a single small screw. A spring loaded bracket arm is mounted to the side of the shaft, holding the telephone's bell-shaped mouthpiece. A brown cotton-covered cord runs from the mouthpiece to the telephone's base. An additional brown cotton-covered cord attaches to the telephone's base, originally fitted with a two-pronged plug.
NotesThis phone was likely owned and used by William Rhea Moreau, Monmouth County resident and the last private owner of Covenhoven House. Moreau was born in 1891 in the Covenhoven House, the son of William M. Moreau and Elizabeth G. Jones. Moreau was a lifelong Monmouth County resident, highly active in the community. He was a farmer, artist, historian, author, and appraiser for the New York and New Jersey Joint Stock Land Bank. He also served variously as deacon, elder, clerk and trustee for the First Presbyterian Church of Freehold. Moreau and his wife, Maude Smith, had no children to inherit the property. Moreau's will directed that after his wife's death, the Covenhoven House was to be offered to the Monmouth County Historical Association. On March 1, 1966, the house became the Association's third historic site. Moreau also collected local antiques, marking many of them with a number within a circle, painted in orange. The telephone does not bear Moreau's collection mark, and so was probably an early personal family telephone used in the Covenhoven House.

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