NYSE Trading Floor Telephone – Western Electric Bell System, 1930–1980 | RARE

This rare NYSE trading floor telephone, manufactured by Western Electric Bell System exclusively for the NYSE and installed in 1930 after the Crash of 1929, represents one of the most coveted artifacts from Wall Street. It’s among only a handful of survivors.

The History of the NYSE Trading Telephone

During the stock market crash on October 24, 1929, known as "Black Thursday", trading volume exceeded 13 million shares and five days later, on October 29th, volume reached over 16 million shares as the selling accelerated. That volume level record would not be broken for almost 4 decades. Volumes were so great stock tickers could not keep pace and ran up to two hours behind. Communications broke down on the floor. The lack of technology and support systems could not keep pace and greatly contributed to the chaos and panic. Clerks worked through the night just to process the day's trades.

While there are many economic factors that attributed to the Crash of 1929, there was no doubt that the lack of communications technology attributed to the magnitude of the crash. In 1930, the NYSE sought to correct that and the trading floor was remodeled and updated with new technology. They installed 17 new horseshoe-shaped trading posts able to accommodate the trading of 100 stocks each. They replaced the old stock ticker tape machines with the new "Black Box" stock tickers which almost doubled the ticker rate. They also installed new phones throughout the floor to aid communication throughout the Exchange, including this one.

The History of the NYSE Telephone

These rare phones were installed on the trading floor in 1930. We also have a first hand account from a trader that they were installed in "the Garage" which was the new trading floor addition added in 1922. The phone was made specifically by Western Electric Bell System for NYSE use. They remained in use for decades and would be removed in 1980 when the NYSE once again remodeled the trading floor to add more modern computers and communications systems. Very few have survived make this a truly remarkeable piece of NYSE and a museum-quality piece

The phone is heavy, built to last for decades. The box is solid oak. The front has push buttons for the different lines with a strip of 4 call lights down the middle. The turn button below the lights has an arrow which can be turned to point to the left or right series of lines. These phones were used by officers to send down orders to brokers on the floor and for calls between brokers within the NYSE. They have been referred to as Manual Ring Down Private Line Phones. The back has metal brackets that would make hanging it on a wall fairly simple.

Display, Provenance & Photos

The picture of the woman using the phone is of Helen Hanzelim and was taken on 4/28/43 (Credit: Acme Photo). Ms. Hanzelim was the first female employee to ever work on the NYSE floor in its 151 year history. As a teenager, she began work as a Telephone Clerk for Merrill Lynch, Pierce, Fenner & Beane. She was promoted and began work on the floor as an Order Clerk in February of 1943. In the other pictures provided, we included a couple of photos of the phone installed on the Floor in 1939 (Credit: DailyNews).

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