Antique Telephones > Western Electric > Princess

Back to antique telephones index


Model: Princess
Made by: Western Electric Co.
From: 1959-1994
western electric princess rotary dial antique phone pink

Pink Princess 1962 (courtesy private collection)

western electric princess model antique telephone

Early Princess advertisement

Princess ad

Another Princess advertisement

Notes

The Princess was the Bell System's first (and possibly most successful) foray into consumer marketing. Targeted at girls and women, it enabled Bell to sell (lease per month) additional phones for bedrooms etc. The Princess even had a little built-in nightlight. The princess phone's small size and lighted dial were designed to make attractive as a bedside extension. The original Model 701 Princess did not contain an internal ringer. Western Electric produced a small baseboard mounted ringer for use with the phone. A plug-in transformer provided low voltage to power the dial lamp. The later Model 702 Princess had a self-contained ringer.

Variations

Many colors and feature variations. See this reference chart.

Other

What next?

Princesses on eBay (what's this?)

Loading related phones from eBay...

- see all eBay phone searches