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500 color rarity

Started by Signguy, November 03, 2011, 10:58:29 AM

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ESalter

I'd just like to say every single time I see the photo of that mahogany 544 I turn green with envy.  That is a NICE phone.

Dave F

Quote from: GG on November 05, 2011, 07:02:42 AM


Nice!  I think of those 4-button sets as two CO lines plus a dial-selector intercom on line 3, or more likely, three CO lines and you have a separate "squawk box" on your desk for intercom.  Was the last line key convertible to momentary contact?  That would have provided the option of a 1-line set with hold, an intercom talking path on line 2, and using the last button to code-buzz the other intercom stations.

It would be quite a task to dig it out of storage and look inside but, according to BSP 502-525-200, Issue 3, March, 1965, the last button on the right is convertible to signaling (momentary contact) by removing the P-12A892 screw from the 588B key assy.

Dave F

Quote from: ESalter on November 05, 2011, 11:34:07 AM
I'd just like to say every single time I see the photo of that mahogany 544 I turn green with envy.  That is a NICE phone.
Thank you.  This one's a gem, and I really enjoy having it.  All colored 544s are rare  and this might be the toughest of them all, unless they were available in Oxford Gray.  In that case, I would have to yield the crown to any lucky collector who managed to land one of those.

teka-bb

Quote from: GG on November 04, 2011, 01:35:25 PM
PMG Australia type 801 in black is also somewhat scarce, as is AE 80 in dark gray, and GPO 741 wall sets in red. 

Really rare: Any AE Monophone in Lilac (light violet) from 1A to 34, and I don't know if they made 40s in that color.   AE 2-line Monophones in Lilac: Ray's rescued ones may be the only surviving examples.  GPO 164 and 232 in Mahogany: only a few around as far as I know. 

A Dutch T65 in black is also quite rare or a blue one in good condition because they fade easily.
The black T65 wasn't popular because costumers would rather pay for a nice colored phone after being limited to just black for all those years, apart from a little ivory.
=============================================
Regards,

Remco, JKL Museum of Telephony Curator

JKL Museum of Telephony: http://jklmuseum.com/
=============================================
TCI Library: http://www.telephonecollectors.info/
=============================================

GG



Hi Remco - I ran into Gary at the show; looks like I might be meeting up with he & you also in January.   

Yes, PTT T65 in black.  And GPO 746 in black also (I have one).  When 706 came out, black was the predominant color, but then 2-tone gray caught on like crazy and became the main office color, carrying over to the 746s.  Apparently 746 in its "export version" was eventually made in a serious rainbow of something like 16 colors, from the list on the side of a box I have for one.   

BTW, PTT T65 had a counterpart in the form of a Krone set with a slightly different design of the external housing.  All the internals appear to be pretty much the same.  I have two of those, ivory and red, basically NOS.  Might be interested in trading at least one for a T65.   

teka-bb


Hello G,

Do you maybe have a picture of the Krone set?

=============================================
Regards,

Remco, JKL Museum of Telephony Curator

JKL Museum of Telephony: http://jklmuseum.com/
=============================================
TCI Library: http://www.telephonecollectors.info/
=============================================

GG



Hi Remco-  First I have to dig them out of storage.  (Anyone up for building a new wing on the museum in Stockton?:-)  There's an ivory one and a red one, the latter with ivory accents.

teka-bb


Does it look like this one:

=============================================
Regards,

Remco, JKL Museum of Telephony Curator

JKL Museum of Telephony: http://jklmuseum.com/
=============================================
TCI Library: http://www.telephonecollectors.info/
=============================================

GG



Hi Remco -

Your photo is a DBP FeTAp 611, and I also have a bunch of those including one in orange like that one, and including a 2-line version. 

The Krone T-65-ish phones I have, have a narrower hookswitch plunger than the 611 (and it's in clear plastic), and an interesting design difference in the housing whereby there is a vertical indentation going down from in front of the cradle to about the level of the semi-circular indentations for the transmitter & receiver are located, and then curving forward in a horizontal line toward the front of the phone.   The handset is not a standard T-65 handset but is more like a DBP-611 handset but a little flatter on top.  From the rear the phone looks almost identical to a T-65 but from the front it is definitely a different external design.

kleenax

Quote from: Dave F on November 04, 2011, 10:44:36 PM
Quote from: kleenax on November 04, 2011, 10:38:37 PM

I actually saw a 2-line 500 in Mahogany at the last Abilene, KS show.


Ray,

I've never seen a two-line (510) set in Mahogany, but I do have this rare Mahogany 544B Keyset.

Dave


NICE phone Dave!  Here's a photo of the 2-line Mahogany 500/510.
Ray Kotke
Recumbent Casting, LLC

Dennis Markham


GG



The difference between that and ITT, SC, and AE "brown" reminds me of:
ITT, SC, and AE "brown" = "milk chocolate," and WE mahogany = "dark chocolate." 

Dave F

Quote from: kleenax on November 09, 2011, 04:53:22 PM
Quote from: Dave F on November 04, 2011, 10:44:36 PM
Quote from: kleenax on November 04, 2011, 10:38:37 PM

I actually saw a 2-line 500 in Mahogany at the last Abilene, KS show.


Ray,

I've never seen a two-line (510) set in Mahogany, but I do have this rare Mahogany 544B Keyset.

Dave


NICE phone Dave!  Here's a photo of the 2-line Mahogany 500/510.
Ray,

With the exception of that mangled handset cord (which would probably take forever to replace), that is a really neat phone.  It obviously was interesting enough to warrent taking a picture.  The price doesn't seem out of line for such a rare item.  If I had been there, I definitely would have been seriously tempted.

Dave

Dave F

Quote from: Dennis Markham on November 09, 2011, 06:08:26 PM
Member John S posted a couple of Mahogany sets a while back.  Here are the links:

http://www.classicrotaryphones.com/forum/index.php?topic=1133.0

http://www.classicrotaryphones.com/forum/index.php?topic=935.0

Thanks, Dennis.  Now I'll have to add a 5-line Mahogany keyset to my wish-list!

Dave

oldphon

Believe it or not, I have seen more 544's in Mohogany Brown than any other set in that color.  That is still not many!

I wonder if there was some large customer that liked that color!

Haven't been on the forum in months, but had a few spare minutes between projects around the house today....