Vintage CONTEMPRA Wall or Desk phone, touchtone
Here is an over 50 year old piece of telephone history that would look great as a working or decorative phone in your home or office. Could also be used as an intercom phone for calling room-to-room, house to garage etc., as a movie prop, or as a very heavy duty and practically indestructible children's toy.
Not to be confused with the Chinese junk phones sold in big box stores nowadays, the Contempra is a telephone designed and produced by Northern Electric beginning in 1967. Contempra was the first phone designed in Canada, previous Canadian telephone sets having been designed in the US for Western Electric and built under licence.
Contempra was highly stylized, using straight lines and oblique angles where curves and corners would be found on contemporary sets like the Trimline. The design was further notable at release for being available in "nine outrageously elegant colours" including bright red and orange, deep brown and green, and other colours selected to match new styles of interior decorating emerging in the 1960s. The one option that was not initially supplied was black, the standard colour for phones for decades.
The colour of this particular phone is Ivory, which is an off-white crème that matches any décor.
Contempra remains an icon of Canadian industrial design, famous to the point of being featured on a postage stamp. It won numerous design awards and is part of the permanent display at the Canadian Museum of History and Canada Science and Technology Museum. It was widely licensed around the world and its production, including that of a smaller version known as Contemprette, continued into the 1990s.
This phone was manufactured at a time when the telephone company still owned all the telephone equipment that was attached to their lines. As a result, the Contempra is very solid and has the feel of a piece of workmanship that was clearly designed to last.
Cords – The phone has been outfitted with an extra-long 25 foot flexible line cord and standard modular plug connection to facilitate a modern hook up to your wall jack (type RJ-11) for use on a table or desk. It can also be permanently mounted as a wall phone either with or without the included flexible line cord.
This item was thoroughly cleaned, sanitized and tested by an ex-Bell technician. Sold as is however the last time we had landline service, the internal brass bell ringer rang fine and when calls were answered the voice sound quality was excellent.
Note: If you do not have landline service, this phone can still be used as an extension to your cell phone. The XLink Bluetooth gateway will allow you to receive calls using a vintage wired telephones through a Bluetooth connection to your cell phone. Xlink is sold separately, and they are plentiful (new) on Amazon or you can get a used one on many of the For Sale groups like OKz.ca and Marketplace.
PRICE:
Contempra phones have sold to collectors for over $250.00US on Ebay. Practically giving it away today for $24.95. This is a steal! First come, first served. Pick it up today with cash. (Ottawa South area near Ottawa International airport and the Rideau Carleton Raceway Casino) or if you want to preclude COVID exposure, we can hold it for you for porch pickup at your convenience if prepaid with an Interac transfer to dtmf416@gmail.com.
Thank you for looking.
Additional historical information about the Contempra: https://ottawacitizen.com/news/local-news/remembering-an-iconic-ottawa-creation-50-years-later
When you call please mention you found this ad listing on OKz.ca