In article ,
"JoeSpareBedroom" wrote:

Only if you want a Princess Phone with lighted dial.
They had a power supply to plug in.

There were several in my parent's house in the early 70s.
None had power supply plugs.

Nevertheless, the dial lights were powered from an external power supply: A
transformer was plugged-in SOMEWHERE in the house. Dial light current was
supplied to Princesstm and early Trimlinetm telephones using the secondary
pair in the jack, usually the yellow/black conductors of the old "quad" wire.
The current was distributed to every jack on the second pair - pair three if
3-pr cable was used.

Many of these transformers are still plugged-in today, but doing virtually
nothing since illuminated "dials" (buttons) have been "line powered" by the
C.O. battery for years.

And, I have a spare AT&T "princess" style phone whose display
is illuminated. Bought it 5 years ago. No power supply plug.

Yeah, and if it says "AT&T", it is not nearly old enough to have been powered
by the above-enumerated technique. In those days, everything was made, and
labeled as such, by Western Electric.
--

JR