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WE 554 Hook switches

Started by Dan, October 03, 2009, 10:46:25 AM

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Dan

I believe a while back someone had a picture of an early 554 with a black original painted hookswitch and even had an early brochure showing it. I am trying to determine a timeline for changes in the hookswitch, since often, unlike 500 models which are dated on the back, 554's are harder to pinpoint and date.

Hows this timeline look so far, and please correct and add dates to clarify?Hope you all don't find this trivial, because I want to visually try to date a 554 when often the back has no marks.

Western Electric 554 Wall phone

Date first made      early 1955?  Black and Ivory colors?

Hookswitch  --  Wide and Thick   first in black, then "frosted chrome" 1956 into 1957

1957 Thick shiny chrome  until 1959?
1959-197 ?    Chrome narrow  hook switch
197?-1984  Plastic slightly wider hookswitch.
Does   anyone think the frosted hook switches are the rarest, I never see them? Thanks


"Imagine how weird telephones would look if our ears weren't so close to our mouths." - Steven Wright

Dennis Markham

#1
Dan, the thread about the hook color started here:

http://www.classicrotaryphones.com/forum/index.php?topic=1161.msg14701#msg14701

Stephen (Jester) posted this thread about his 554 here:

http://www.classicrotaryphones.com/forum/index.php?topic=1494.0

..........which was split and continued here:

http://www.classicrotaryphones.com/forum/index.php?topic=1510.0

I think the consensus is that WE don't know if there was an actual time-line for the hooks or if various hooks were used indiscriminately, especially in the beginning.  Considering that the 554 that Jonathan posted with the black hook was manufactured in June of 1955 and the one I posted, with the satin finished hook was dated one month earlier in May of 1955 it would not be consistent with the thought that all of the first 554's were produced with the black hook.  However, one telephone does not a study make, meaning mine may have been a replacement.  But the transition of the hooks would be as you mentioned, as follows:

Black Finish (Wide, or thicker hook)
Satin Finish (Wide, or thicker hook)
Chrome Finish - (Wide, or thicker hook)
Chrome - Standard width hook
Clear plastic hook

What the dates were for this transition is not known (by me).  I've looked at a lot of model 554's in the past five years.  Jonathan's is the first that I have seen with a black hook.  I think it qualifies as rare, or at the very least uncommon.  The colored 554's from 1955, 1956 seem to have the satin finish.  Maybe even later.  The chrome finished, thicker hooks are on some of my 1957 phones and maybe into 1958 or 1959.  I will take a closer look and report back.  This is my unofficial study based on my experiences with the 554's.

Dennis Markham

#2
Here's some unofficial data regarding the hooks on phones that I have.  I did not check dates of the phones that have the thinner hook and I don't have any with plastic hooks.  So all of these are the wide or thicker hook. The only conclusion I can reach about my sets are that no Satin finished hooks appear after 1956 in either colored or black sets.

Western Electric Model 554's

Sets In Color

Mth - Year
09 – 1956 – Red – Chrome Hook
09 – 1956 – Green – Satin
10 – 1956 – Ivory – Satin
11 – 1956 – Ivory – Satin
12 – 1956 – Med. Blue – Satin

01 – 1957 – Mahogany – Chrome
05 – 1957 – Rose Beige – Chrome
02 – 1957 - Red – Chrome
02 – 1957 – Red – Chrome
02 – 1957 – Yellow – Chrome
05 – 1957 – Ivory – Chrome

03 – 1958 – Lt Gray – Chrome

06 – 1959 – Rose Pink – Chrome
06 – 1959 – Red - Chrome

Black Sets

05 – 1955 – Satin
05 – 1955 – Chrome
08 – 1955 -  Satin

02- 1956 – Satin
04 – 1956 – Chrome (Case from 2-1955)
08 – 1956 – Satin

01 – 1957 – Chrome
11 – 1957 – Chrome

08 – 1958 – Chrome
12 – 1958 - Chrome



Dan

#3
Very interesting Dennis, thanks for all your time and work on this. I see you like the black 554's too. They are really classy to me.

So I am guessing a white soft plastic 554 is hard to come by? I know the dark oxford grey ones are rare.
"Imagine how weird telephones would look if our ears weren't so close to our mouths." - Steven Wright

Dennis Markham

Dan, I haven't been able to find one in white.  But sooner or later one will come along.  In my quest I have picked up a couple of nice white ones that are hard plastic.  One of them is still new in the box from about '68.

In addition to those black phones I listed I have a handful that have the thinner hook.  For a while I was buying lots of phones.  I guess that's how I learned about all the differences.  That and comparing notes with others which is what makes this forum so great.  I'm still learning and thanks to Jonathan I now know about the black hooks.  I don't know what else I don't know...........yet. :)

bwanna

#5
you said it dennis, i don't know what i don't know yet.  thanks to you guys i know alot more now. i used to just look for triangular feet on the 500s. thinking that is what indicated they were old. boy have i learned differently.  we'll see how good my eye is. i just ordered a phone off ebay. there wasn't much info on it. if it is what i think it is, i will post about it. if not, i ain't sayin nuttin ;)

thanks for the research on the hooks, dennis. :)
donna

jsowers

#6
Dennis, that's a great lineup of 554s. I took a look at mine this evening and came to about the same conclusions you have. The Satin and Chrome ones weren't made one before the other, and my satin ones are circa 1956. They must have been made concurrently. Your format was very easy to read, so I'm trying to do it the same way. Here's mine...

Western Electric Model 554's

Sets In Color

Mth - Year

08 - 55 - Ivory - Chrome Hook
10 - 56 - Dark Gray - Satin
11 - 56 - Ivory - Satin
12 - 56 - Med. Blue - Satin

01 - 57 - Green - Chrome
03 - 57 - Rose Beige - Chrome
05 - 57 - Rose Beige - Chrome
06 - 57 - Yellow - Chrome
07 - 57 - Ivory - Chrome (this is a 593 set made for Independent Telcos)
09 - 57 - Red - Chrome
09 - 57 - Yellow - Chrome
09 - 57 - Lt. Beige - Chrome
11 - 57 - Green - Chrome
12 - 57 - Ivory - Chrome

03 - 58 - Red - Chrome
08 - 58 - Lt. Beige - Chrome
09 - 58 - Ivory - Chrome
11 - 58 - Ivory - Chrome
12 - 58 - Pink - Chrome
12 - 58 - Ivory - Chrome

01 - 59 - Ivory - Chrome
05 - 59 - White - Chrome
10 - 59 - Lt. Gray - Chrome (plastics are from earlier in 1959)
10 - 59 - Ivory - Chrome
11 - 59 - Lt. Beige - Chrome

Black Sets

06 - 55 - Black Hook

02 - 58 - Chrome
09 - 58 - Chrome

01 - 59 - Chrome

The 8-55 ivory one is in service in my kitchen and it rings so loud I can hear it outside, through the brick wall.
Jonathan

McHeath

Just to muddy the waters I'd mention my Northern Electric 554 from 03/1965 with it's black plastic hook shaped like the early wide metal hooks on the WE 554s. 

Of course by 1965 NE was off on it's own and changing whatever they wanted to it seems. 


jsowers

Quote from: McHeath on October 06, 2009, 12:37:53 AM
Just to muddy the waters I'd mention my Northern Electric 554 from 03/1965 with it's black plastic hook shaped like the early wide metal hooks on the WE 554s. 

Of course by 1965 NE was off on it's own and changing whatever they wanted to it seems. 

I hope you don't take offense, but I see why you had it on a newspaper. If you added a little water, you would get some mud to muddy the waters from the dirt on that phone! ;) Seriously, you're right about NE. They also held onto the fat switchhook longer than WE, and the "no center hole" caps, and your 554 has one. I don't know about everyone else, but I find 554s to be among the dirtiest phones out there. Some sat for years in a greasy kitchen and the years were not kind to them. Also they seem to be laden with tape and stickers sometimes.

Also, FYI, I updated my figures above to reflect the 554s I have in storage.
Jonathan

bwanna

nice line-up, jonathan. thank you for the update.

thank you, too heath for the NE variation. we will expect pics when it's all clean & purty ;)
donna

Dan

How many years have you been collecting these Jonathan? I find soft plastic 554's are rare on Ebay. I got my old black one @ an antique mall. What are your best sources?
"Imagine how weird telephones would look if our ears weren't so close to our mouths." - Steven Wright

McHeath

No offense taken on my filthy 554 from NE.  It came like that, just shockingly dirty, amazing.  I threw the plastics in the dishwasher to clean it up, but this was only bought for that black hook so it's just in the closet now mostly in pieces. 

I've never seen a soft plastic 554. 

McHeath


jsowers

Quote from: McHeath on October 06, 2009, 11:21:34 PM
This 554 looks to have a black hook:

http://tinyurl.com/ycocgey

The picture is awful, but it does appear to be black, and it looks to have a flat ringer adjust lever, which also dates it to the 1950s. Good luck on your bidding. You may need it! You need to ask for more pictures to make sure it's not a reflection. This one also will need a new coil cord. Someone retrofitted a modular one.
Jonathan

jsowers

Quote from: Dan on October 06, 2009, 09:38:09 PM
How many years have you been collecting these Jonathan? I find soft plastic 554's are rare on Ebay. I got my old black one @ an antique mall. What are your best sources?

Dan, my only source has been eBay. I don't remember ever finding one anywhere else, and I've been to countless thrift stores and yard sales over the years. I've been collecting them since about 2001 and registered on eBay since 1999.

Soft plastic 554s were more common in the early days of eBay, when it was more like a huge yard sale, but still they were nowhere near as common as 500s. I have a lot of 554s packed away that are damaged. Many were damaged in shippipng and some have holes in them and such. Some got badly faded from sitting in the same spot for 50 years. The housing is so easily damaged by people who don't know how to remove it, and by sellers who don't know a thing about packing a phone. If you ever win one, be sure to send packing instructions asking for the handset to be wrapped separately and for plenty of packing around the phone.

A yellow 9-58 one sold not long ago. Did you see it? The link is below. I alerted Bwanna since parts of it were 8-58, but she came in runner-up. Better luck next time, Bwanna!

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=230381810889

Dennis and I discussed it afterwards and he thinks the back may be painted silver. I wasn't sure if it was painted or just bad lighting from the flash. I can't see an A/B 554 stamp anywhere on the back.
Jonathan