D1 Imperial refinishing

[Andre91]

I recently acquired a D1 Imperial set but the finish on the mount is discolored in places. The finish is consistently smooth and shiny, even in the discolored areas, so it's not like the coating has come off. I'm wondering if anyone here knows of a way to refinish these, short of having the set gold plated. From what I've found online, the gold sets were silver plated and then sprayed with a gold tinted lacquer? If that's the case, I wonder if it's possible to strip off the lacquer and either polish up the plating to make a silver Imperial, or respray it with gold lacquer (like the stuff used on brass musical instruments?). I have attached pictures of the stand showing the problem areas.

[Greg G.]

Did you ever find an answer to this?  I've recently acquired one that's in similar condition.  After reading some history behind the Imperials, I've come away with a better view of them, although I still won't seek them out.  The biggest part will be refinishing it.

[Andre91]

I never did find an answer on refinishing the gold/silver imperials, I ended up just repainting the phone. I used a metallic gold paint, and while it's nowhere near as shiny as the original finish it's still displayable. I would expect the cost to have the phone replated would exceed the cost of finding another imperial in good condition.

[unbeldi]

Plating an Imperial in gold would indeed not be appropriate. They should be lacquered.  The base 'plating' they received  under the lacquer was with rhodium apparently, not silver.

The story that is linked to in this thread, appears as mostly that, just a story, although the description of the GN4676 is more factual. We have absolutely no evidence that any Imperials or Continentals were made before 1955, not a single one. In addition, the evidence suggests not many were made anymore in early 1956.  We have seen a few refurbishing date stamps on these, and they seem to cluster around 1957, but I only recall two or three that I have been made aware of.

There are some actually gold-plated Imperials floating around, but these are apparently created by some over-optimistic eBay sellers.

[WesternElectricBen]

I never did find an answer on refinishing the gold/silver imperials, I ended up just repainting the phone. I used a metallic gold paint, and while it's nowhere near as shiny as the original finish it's still displayable. I would expect the cost to have the phone replated would exceed the cost of finding another imperial in good condition.

Would spraying on some clear help the sheen?

Ben

[HarrySmith]

I have a customer that got one in poor condition. He sent it out and had it plated in Brass, looks great!

[Alex G. Bell]

An Imperial is a metallic finish 202 set.  AFAIK they were offered in the 50s and 60s to use up stocks of obsolete 202 sets by recycling them as retro "decor" phones.  I greatly doubt manual ones were made by the Bell System so an authentic manual "Imperial" seems like an impossibility, something an eBay seller might have concocted.  That could explain the mismatch between handset and subset.

I would expect the finish to be less durable than that of most other phones, probably not something which would be used in a commercial establishment without incurring high maintenance costs for the cosmetic aspects.  It would be interesting to see photos of the phone and handset sticker.

[poplar1]

Imperials and Continentals all seem to date from 1955 to early 1956. And of the 100 or so that I've checked, all had D4 mounting cords, even though at least 1/3 of them had F4 handsets. The "authentic" apparatus blank for the Imperial was a matching metal one.

I have owned several Imperials with message waiting lamps. One story I heard was that the luxurious Fontainebleau Hotel, which opened in 1954 in Miami Beach, had these in every room.

It is true that the BSPs show both G- and D-type mountings with 685A subsets when equipped with T1 transmitter units and U1 receiver units. However, the only 202s I have seen wired this way by the WE repair shops were those customer-owned sets that, like the 51ALs and 1317s, were updated with leased parts to make them equivalent to a 500 set.

An Imperial is a metallic finish 202 set.  AFAIK they were offered in the 50s and 60s to use up stocks of obsolete 202 sets by recycling them as retro "decor" phones.  I greatly doubt manual ones were made by the Bell System so an authentic manual "Imperial" seems like an impossibility, something an eBay seller might have concocted.  That could explain the mismatch between handset and subset.

I would expect the finish to be less durable than that of most other phones, probably not something which would be used in a commercial establishment without incurring high maintenance costs for the cosmetic aspects.  It would be interesting to see photos of the phone and handset sticker.

[Jim Stettler]

Many of the Imperials I have seen have f handsets with G type elements.
When the Imperials retired from service they went to the Telephone Pioneers who made them into Lamps and sold them as fundraisers.


I was once told that if they had a painted f handset (w/F elements) that they were likely converted back from a lamp.

Jim S.