Useless Thing I Don't Need but Kind of Really Want: "Donut" Phone

And no, I don't mean a phone that looks like an actual Krispy Cream (delicious but impractical). I'm talking this:



Image: MrDorkESQ on Flickr


What a great design! Sure, it doesn't send text messages or or allow you to play Angry Birds. Oh and it doesn't take pictures of your cat. And you can't walk more than a couple feet from it to talk. Oh yeah, and that pesky rotary dial that takes ten times longer to place a call than just going to your contacts list and pressing once on the screen. Okay, so cell phones are pretty handy and a very significant step in technology. But look at the SHAPE!!! 

The "donut" phone was actually called the "Sculptura", originally produced beginning in 1974 by the Western Electric company. Interestingly enough, they were produced in BOTH touch tone and rotary dial since the phone lines in some areas were not yet equipped for touch tone. It was produced in white, brown and yellow which were not only popular colors in the mid-seventies but also the uniform colors at my high school at the time I attended (a move to ensure that no boys would EVER look at us in the event we went out in public in uniform). They can be found in other colors out there (the pink is particularly incredible), but these have been refurbished by collectors.


The Scuptura was part of the "Design Line" launched by Western Electric in 1974 to give people some new interesting "stylish" options for their telephone, which I guess was a rather new concept at the time. Also included in the Design Line was the "Antique Gold" which my family had, and I am pretty sure almost all families in the early 80s also had:

Image: Porticus

Not sure how this became one of the most popular phones in the country, but there you go. Here is an image from an actual Western Electric marketing binder for the Design Line for the Sculptura, which I love:

Image: Porticus

Would you like one of your very own like I do? Here are a couple of  "donut" phones for sale on Etsy:

$68, from five6seven8

$75 from Hoot and Owl