What’s the Deal with “Both Phones”?
A simple but confusing phrase used to be common on advertisements and promotional items. Here’s the story behind it.
In last week’s post about vintage billheads, I noted that one of the billheads included the cryptic notation “Both Phones,” as seen here:
As I mentioned in that post, I had no idea what “Both Phones” was referring to. But I have since learned that this phrase was not unique to the Anchor Hay & Grain Company. Here it is again on two other old billheads:
Moreover, “Both Phones” wasn’t strictly a billhead thing. As it turns out, it used to be common on all sorts of promotional items, from matchbooks to ice picks and a lot more. Here’s a representative sampling that I found on eBay: