Harvest Gold WE 500

[L-20]

Greetings, all! On my latest trip to the antique shop I happened to find this beauty. I'd been looking for something like this to put in my room as a display piece, never really expected to find a real one for a decent price! I've been doing some research and from what I can tell, the guts were made sometime in the 50s (all are stamped 56-57) and the gold/yellow cover as well as all of the components of the handset were made in '69.
I've been trying to figure out how to hook it up to my home phone line on and off for a couple days now with some luck. I got it to give me a dial tone but it won't ring or place calls, though from what I've heard the latter is because my system unfortunately doesn't support pulse dialing without some sort of converter.

[poplar1]

What is the short piece of black wire between F and RR?

[oldguy]

Nice phone, I remember when it was new & a popular color back then too. More so with the 554s in the kitchen.

[L-20]

What is the short piece of black wire between F and RR?

Just a piece off of the cord that I put there; someone suggested wiring those two together to get the phone to dial out. That was before I found out my system just doesn't support pulse dialing so it's quite unnecessary really, I just haven't gotten around to removing it yet.

[poplar1]

Just a piece off of the cord that I put there; someone suggested wiring those two together to get the phone to dial out. That was before I found out my system just doesn't support pulse dialing so it's quite unnecessary really, I just haven't gotten around to removing it yet.

Actually, this wire is short circuiting the dial pulsing contacts. This would prevent the dial from working.

The dial pulsing contacts, connected to the blue and green dial wires, open the line as the dial returns to its at rest position. For example, if you dial a 7, the contacts open and close 7 times. So if you short out those two wires, you are bypassing the dial so that even if the contacts on the dial open, they are bypassed by the black wire you installed.

[Victor Laszlo]

Wow, I thought you'd found a really rare item.  A harvest gold 500 from the pre-divestiture era.

I believe what you have is a pastel yellow 500 set, (color suffix -56) rather than a harvest gold set, (color suffix -111).  I have never seen a non-modular -111 set, dated prior to 1984.

What color suffix is stamped on the reverse side of the dial number plate?  That will help identify the correct color.

[L-20]

Actually, this wire is short circuiting the dial pulsing contacts. This would prevent the dial from working.

The dial pulsing contacts, connected to the blue and green dial wires, open the line as the dial returns to its at rest position. For example, if you dial a 7, the contacts open and close 7 times. So if you short out those two wires, you are bypassing the dial so that even if the contacts on the dial open, they are bypassed by the black wire you installed.

Ah, thank you for informing me! I removed it and I did get clicking noises on the handset when I tried to dial out, which leads me to believe it would function once I get a converter.

Wow, I thought you'd found a really rare item.  A harvest gold 500 from the pre-divestiture era.

I believe what you have is a pastel yellow 500 set, (color suffix -56) rather than a harvest gold set, (color suffix -111).  I have never seen a non-modular -111 set, dated prior to 1984.

What color suffix is stamped on the reverse side of the dial number plate?  That will help identify the correct color.

All I know as of now is that the tag the shop put on it was marked 'harvest gold'. I used flash in the pictures as well and they appear a lot lighter than the phone actually is (the whole thing is much closer in color to the way the handset looks). Unfortunately I don't have it with me at the moment but I will check on that and update within a few hours!

[TelePlay]

The dial code should look like this, in the image below. In this example, it's a 7C dial with the original color as -54 and the date of manufacture was 5-56 (May 1956).

Some dial color codes don't match the bezel in that the dial was taken from one phone, the bezel changed to the housing color and installed. For example, the dial could be coded "black" (-3) but installed on a "red" (-53) phone, the bezel and housing are red.

In this image, the color code -54 is mahogany brown. There is a good chance you dial will say 7C-56 pastel yellow (as Victor Laszlo posted) if the plastics are original to the base and below that, the date stamp.

[jsowers]

Your yellow 500 reminds me of my grandmother's, but hers was modular. It sat next to her recliner in the den and it was the first modular phone I'd ever seen, installed about 1977. My aunt still has it in her basement where we get together for holidays. I got to run the wiring to it and another phone she has at the basement door. When it rings, everyone looks over at it like it's a blast from the past. It's never had one problem in 40 years.

It looks like your handset cord is exiting at the wrong place. It should exit on the left side of the dial, so while you have that dial out, move the handset cord to the left and hook its strain relief to the little slot in the base. Hopefully that little clip isn't broken off.

This phone originally came with a yellow mounting cord with spades on either end if you want to look for one to replace it. The handset and handset cord in your picture are more the shade of -56 yellow and the caps and the rest of the plastics are lighter in color. Could the handset be painted? It's very hard to tell in a picture. A picture of the WE logo stamp on the handset would help determine if it's painted. Paint settles in the lettering and makes it less distinct. It could also be the flash washing out the color.

You probably won't find any color code marked on the dial since it looks to date to 1969 like the plastics. Since this one's a refurb of a 50s phone, the dial wasn't likely original to the 1950s and even if it were original, they didn't pay attention to the color coding in the refurb shop. That was only used in the factory in Indianapolis when they were made and they stopped using color codes on the dials about 1965 or so.

Other than that black jumper, your phone looks like it's wired correctly so I hope you get everything working soon. What kind of phone service do you have? If it's a cable modem, then chances are rotary won't work, but do try it out to make sure and let us know.

[L-20]

It looks like the insides of the phone used to belong to a black 500 then; the rest is not original.
I've moved the handset cord and I took out the little black wire a while ago but it still doesn't ring. However I found another rotary phone at the antique shop today and that one rings when tested, but neither dial out so that part's just my service. I have an Ooma, I'm not sure exactly what that does as far as the phones go, but I do know it requires Internet connection.
Here is another picture if it helps to determine the color at all. This is the most accurate to the color. There is a slight discrepancy between the color of the body of the handset compared to everything else but it's hardly visible to the eye.

[Pvt-telco]

for the ringing, in between the 2 gongs there is a bias spring, take it and move from where it is now,and move it to the other side and test it again

[L-20]

for the ringing, in between the 2 gongs there is a bias spring, take it and move from where it is now,and move it to the other side and test it again

Got it! Works perfectly now, thank you! 

I've done a bit of digging around and it seems that the best converter for my purposes would be a Dialgizmo. According to what I've read, I'd only need one of them for the whole house once I get enough rotary phones, and people with the same system as I have (bit more information on that by the way, it is an Ooma Telo) say it works for them.

[Pvt-telco]

Got it! Works perfectly now, thank you! 

I've done a bit of digging around and it seems that the best converter for my purposes would be a Dialgizmo. According to what I've read, I'd only need one of them for the whole house once I get enough rotary phones, and people with the same system as I have (bit more information on that by the way, it is an Ooma Telo) say it works for them.

Great I am glad that you got it to ring, and for the dialgizmo,when you are ready check back with us on that because they have some drawbacks but we should be able to help you through it