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just won, soft green 500

Started by HarrySmith, April 03, 2011, 08:17:47 AM

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HarrySmith

Just won this one for the opening bid of only $10.00!
Soft center dial and 6 hole earpiece, I am hoping it is soft plastic to add to my collection!

http://tinyurl.com/3rs7j95
Harry Smith
ATCA 4434
TCI

"There is no try,
there is only
do or do not"

JimH

I saw this one, too.  What made me think it wasn't soft plastic was the "R1260" the seller indicated it had on the bottom, probably meaning it was refurbished in December of 1960, after ABS was being used.  Still, it's a nice phone for $10!
Jim H.

HarrySmith

Yeah, that was my question about the dates and the holes in the earpiece. There are 2 refurb dates from 1960 but I am hoping since the handset cap and dial were not changed maybe it is still the original plastics. It seems dials and handsets were the most often replaced parts from what I have seen. Since it was only about a year old maybe the refurb was test, clean and put it in a box! Even if it is not the price was under $20 with my eBay Bucks so it will be cleaned and polished, then relisted :)
Harry Smith
ATCA 4434
TCI

"There is no try,
there is only
do or do not"

Jester

Even if there were no parts replaced during the refurbs, the original chassis date, 10/59, is late enough that most or all of the plastics are probably ABS.  I've never considered these earliest ABS phones to be "less collectible" than the tenite phones, but everyone else seems to avoid them almost entirely.  For the first seven months of production, the ABS telephones look identical in every detail to the soft plastic 500s made between 10/58 & 5/59.  Both had a 7 C/D dial with open faced F/W (on the colored phones).  The handset caps had no center holes & the handle was the same casting as the soft ones.  The cover is still a thick casting with nine ribs on each side, and the date is still paint stamped inside the front cover.  Lastly, the 425B network still has a black terminal plate (this changed to several different colors after 1960) and the feet are still the triangular brown neoprene type that WE went to about 10/58.  Many of these features would change after 1960.  Center holes in the handset caps, new casting for the handle, thinner covers with only six ribs per side.  The feet changed to round grommets about 1963, and the 9C dial showed up around 1965.
Stephen

david@london




...........i bookmarked this thread because of the very informative post by jester about changes to the 500's design circa 1959-60.

              re-reading it now,  i can't see that we ever found out whether Harry's moss green phone was soft plastic or not.

.........i'm putting my chips on the good result- soft plastic !  am i right , Harry?  :o

LarryInMichigan

We switched from tenite to ABS plastic in the middle of 1959.  I once bought a yellow 500 from later 1959 and found out, after it arrived, that it was ABS.  The inside of the shell had a date stamp like the soft plastic shells, and the receiver cap had six holes, but it was all ABS.  I later sold that phone to Dennis Markham who has hopefully refurbished and resold it by now.

Larry

Dennis Markham

Quote from: LarryInMichigan on May 24, 2012, 09:02:09 AM
I later sold that phone to Dennis Markham who has hopefully refurbished and resold it by now.
Larry

Ha ha, Larry...it's still sitting where I put it the day you brought it over to the house.  It's waiting for you to reclaim it.

HarrySmith

WOW, that was over a year ago. My old brain does not remember that far back! I must have forgotten I even started the post. I will have to go home and check. If it is in my collection it must have been soft, if not I probably cleaned it up & sold it. I will post later tonight.
Harry Smith
ATCA 4434
TCI

"There is no try,
there is only
do or do not"

AE_Collector

#8
Okay, am I losing it or what? Why is that ebaY add still available for viewing when it is over a year old? Don't they usually completely disappear at about 90 days old?

The pictures are gone but all the text is still there. ebaY made a change awhile back so that if you go to an expired listing it shows the details but if you want to go to the actual listing you have to click another link. Maybe they are no longer completely deleting listings once they are more than 90 days old.

Terry

david@london

#9

quote from Terry...... 'Okay, am i losing it or what ?'

terry, ........................


...........could this be the effect of watching Edison Lighthouse videos ?

AE_Collector

#10
That's probably it, thanks for setting me straight.

Back to Bewitched and Gilligan's Island on TV for me....

Terry

HarrySmith

OK, you guys have me perplexed. I do not have it in my collection and I do not recall cleaning and selling a Grren phone. I will have to check my "to do" pile this weekend. Now I am wondering if I ever got it!
Harry Smith
ATCA 4434
TCI

"There is no try,
there is only
do or do not"

HarrySmith

Finally figured it out. It was not soft plastic. I got a reply to my Craigslist ad about old phones from a photographer, the Green one was the only working one I had at the time. I sent him a picture and he agreed to buy it for $75.00. He also asked for other colors and a newer phone as props. I sold him four other phones that I stripped. Basically left just a case, a handset and a coiled cord for $25.00 each. Pretty good sale that day!
Harry Smith
ATCA 4434
TCI

"There is no try,
there is only
do or do not"