There’s a guy in San Luis Obispo, CA that finds old rotary phones (like from the 1940s) and restores them. New paint, new cloth cord cover, same old timey ring. And they’re nice and heavy. I used to have one. :)
I have two here. As soon as I find a roommate I will put the land line back in.
I love the sound of them
I find that I am replicating sounds from my youth in my life, and odors too.
the mild tinkle as one walks near the china and crystal cabinet. the smell of old english furniture polish or Lestoil. The lemon smell of Joy. The sound of the ticking clocks all over the house. The ding dong of the doorbell. ...
That famous auction site has them. Some are “collectable” I suppose. Pay phones, the really old ones from the 40s and 50s would be cool, maybe in the garage. One cool thing about the older phones is they still work in a general mains power outage, they get 90 volts DC from the office.
But landlines are becoming a thing of the past.
I still have a push button phone I use as ‘back up’ during lightening storms if electricity goes off. I can still call out even if no connection with cell or isn’t juiced up.