Painted Black Beige 554 6/3/58 Soft plastic.

[Doug Rose]

Jan found found this at the Flea this morning. I was looking for a black G1 Handset when I noticed the whole think has been painted. The shell is dated 6/3/58 and most of the phone is dated 3/57. Is this color anything special.....Doug

[poplar1]

The 7C-55 dial was originally rose beige (dark beige) from 1957. Do you see dates on the G3 handle and caps? The 1958 date on the housing seems too late for rose beige.

[Doug Rose]

David ...193 and 61 are embossed inside the handset. The caps are not marked....Doug

[paul-f]

I agree with David. Light beige was available on the 554 in 1957.

The housing is interesting either as an early example of light beige or a late example of dark beige.

BTW, the model number in the topic should be corrected from 544 to 554 so it won't come up in future searches for four-button keysets and will come up when searching for wall sets..

[WEBellSystemChristian]

Pretty nice find, Doug!

The housing could be a pretty valuable replacement for someone who has a SP Beige 554 with a broken housing. Sadly, it looks like the handset was replaced at one point (both caps have center holes).

Take some Easy Off to the outside of the housing followed up with polish, and it should look great!

[poplar1]

I forgot to look for the center hole. However, I don't see one in the transmitter cap.

If the housing is indeed dark beige, with a layer of light beige paint under the black paint, then it would follow the example of other discontinued colors. Apparently, WE (and/or the Bell companies?) had leftover stock of  oxford gray (color code -52), brown (-54), rose beige (-55), and Mediterranean blue (-57) when the new 1957 colors were introduced.  They reissued these unused phones in the new colors. Of course, they had to use new cords and new dial number plates, but some or all of the other plastic parts could be painted. It seems that the Mediterranean blue sets became aqua blue, and the rose beige were transformed into light beige. (Not sure what happened to the brown or Oxford gray ones, but I seem to recall seeing a light gray 500 with painted parts that were originally Oxford gray.)

[Alex G. Bell]

I seem to recall seeing a light gray 500 with painted parts that were originally Oxford gray.)

Indeed.  I have one.  Unfortunately the handset is light gray, not painted, only the housing is.

Also have a yellow 556 dating from 2-58 in immaculate condition, all matching dates, gas tube still there, with original fat handset cord, original black border number card still in place.

[WEBellSystemChristian]

Sorry, David, I didn't notice the transmitter cap. Yes, that looks like soft plastic. That only leaves the receiver cap and the handle, but I suspect the handle is original.

[RotarDad]

The receiver cap is dated 12-60 and is definitely hard plastic light beige.  The inside of the handset matches the color inside the receiver cap, so I'd say the handset is light beige.  The transmitter cap looks more yellow, so I'm thinking ivory there.  I found a light beige painted rose beige 500 which also had a light beige handset dated '58.  Christian has it now, and he's located a correct handset and stripped the paint off the shell.

Looks like someone got too aggressive removing the phone from the wall - look at the bend in the base plate....

[Doug Rose]

If anyone is interested PM me with an offer. You guys know much more about this than I do...thanks...Doug

[Doug Rose]

Stripped most of the paint off, keeping the green vermillion date. There are a few scratches on the front. The handset is a more beige color that the shell. I think it's Rose Beige, but you guys are the experts....your thoughts?.....Doug

[WEBellSystemChristian]

It definitely looks Light Beige from where I'm sitting. The handset has a little fading, whereas the housing has little to no fading; it looks practically brand new.

[Doug Rose]

Thanks Christian, with nothing to compare it to it does look pinkish to me. It did have a RB dial, but that doesn't mean anything. I have put it on eBay. I am done with it. On the rarity scale, it you will....where does a soft plastic light beige come in or is it just junk. Way too much work went into this phone....Doug

http://www.ebay.com/itm/292147347300?ssPageName=STRK:MESELX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1558.l2649

[WEBellSystemChristian]

If you had a complete Light Beige SP 554, you could get $100 for it on a good day. You could also make a nice display piece out of Light Beige SP 500/554 parts, assuming you had enough to make a complete, displayable phone. Someone may want $20-30 for it realistically, but not everyone has lots of Soft Plastic Light Beige parts lying around.

I already have a light beige 554 housing in 'parts' that came with a painted Rose Beige housing and a later dial. I thought about trying to find all the parts I need to make it a complete phone, but it seems like it would take longer and/or cost more to find the parts than it's worth.

Just my two cents!