Skeleton telephone
L M Ericsson’s desk telephone of the 1890s with an open iron frame – the telephone as both machine and ornament.
Lars Magnus Ericsson opened his workshop in Stockholm in 1876 and soon began making telephones. The desk telephone with an open frame, its technology on show, appeared around 1892 and became one of the company’s best-known models.
In the 1880s and 90s Stockholm had more telephones per inhabitant than almost any other city in the world. The telephone was made for many years and copied by others.
Materials: Iron, brass, ebonite; cloth-covered cords
Manufacture: Made in L M Ericsson’s workshop in Stockholm and exported to many countries.
An open frame in which the horseshoe magnets are visible.
A crank for calling the exchange.
Ericsson’s name plate and a model number on the base.