WE 20T Intercom Candlestick

This early intercom candlestick still has the original green cord. Transmitter model 269W. Nickel plated brass.

The Western Electric Model 20 series (the "20-B," "20-AL," etc.) is the quintessential candlestick phone of the early 20th century. It bridged the gap between the massive wooden wall phones of the late 1800s and the desktop handset models that became standard in the late 1920s. The Model 20 is empty inside. It contains no ringer and very little internal circuitry. To work, it had to be wired to a separate subset—a wooden or metal box mounted on the wall or hidden under a desk—which contained the bells, induction coil, and capacitors.