more from flea market

[rdelius]

found this soft plastic set built 1956, rebuilt 1958. The bad news, the shell was dark grey and painted ivory.The second set 1500,built 1965 rebuilt later.
Robby

[Dennis Markham]

Robby, do you think that set was painted using Polane?  If not, it may be easy to remove the Ivory/White paint.

[rdelius]

Most likely polane. I have a dark grey 554 shell with similar paint that I quit trying to strip.If I did get the paint off ofthe 500 set,  I would not have a telephone anymore.
Robby
the other parts of the set are not painted

[jsowers]

Robby, you are still finding bargains. The ivory one is what I call an early refurb. They did them even in the 1950s, to use up the old housings, as you know from your 554. You can look on the bright side--that ivory 500 goes really well with your rug and it looks pretty good as is.

The 1500 should clean up fine. Post an "after" picture and maybe you'll have a candidate for January find, if we have that this month.

[McHeath]

Interesting that a grey housing was painted ivory.  Was grey a popular color?  If it were unpopular was that the reason it was reused and repainted?

[rdelius]

This was the dark grey which might have been on its way out.
Robby

[jsowers]

This was the dark grey which might have been on its way out.
Robby

You are correct. Dark gray was discontinued in 1957 and replaced, so to speak, by light gray, which began in late 1957. Under that ivory paint is likely a pristine dark gray housing. Dark gray was never very popular. That's what makes it rare and collectible today.

[rp2813]

So were dark gray cases used primarily for two-tone sets or does "dark" = "Oxford?"

[Dennis Markham]

So were dark gray cases used primarily for two-tone sets or does "dark" = "Oxford?"

Yes, Dark Gray is Oxford Gray.