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WE 49/500 distribution.

Started by Dan/Panther, February 27, 2009, 02:25:55 PM

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Dennis Markham

A very nice phone collector in Virginia posted this photo of his 1950 model 500 back in 2007 on the TCI List Serve.  Since the TCI allows access without being a dues paying member, I figured it would be ok to share the image and description with you here.  Check out his 1950 500 with the curved "operator" under the zero.

http://www.telephonecollectors.org/pictures/?id=192462191

This one flew under the radar on eBay as the seller didn't advertise it with the curved Operator.  It was unbeknownst to him.  You see a million black phones on eBay...pay close attention to detail and perhaps another will fly below the radar screen.  I want one too! :)

HobieSport

#16
I just think Heath is hoarding all the '49 500s and is just throwing us off track so he can gloat over them secretly in his dark lair. ;D

McHeath

It came to us on our birfsday it did!  It's ours, precious, it came it us!  Nasty little phone hobbitses, tricksy they are, they tries to takes it from us...
;)

JimH

I don't remember what year for sure the seller said it was....I'm thinking it was1950, though.  This would make sense, as that pic showing Dreyfuss in November 1949 has the "z" and operator written out.  Another possibility is that the dial ring was reused...as they reused everything!
Jim H.

rp2813

Jim, I still have my doubts about that ebay phone being a '49.   I don't see how it could have lasted intact and in seemingly perfect shape long enough to have a number card with an area code but still have the original handset cord.  It just doesn't add up for me.   And why wouldn't the seller have posted additional pictures of the components to display the '49 dates on everything for potential buyers?   

I'm pretty skeptical that any '49 500's are out there, and if there are I'd have to guess they were lifted from Ma Bell/WE via inside job early on before they could be pulled, tested, re-issued as '50's or whatever might have happened to all of them.  But who would have had that kind of vision about the 500 model to want to do that in 1949, and very likely face immediate dismissal if caught? 

If there were problems discovered with the trial prototypes, I suspect that after the trial was over, the phones were collected and if WE considered them to be unworthy of redeployment due to known network problems or whatever, they would have trashed them like any other phone that they didn't feel was up to the necessary standards to be put back into service.  A horrible thought, but Ma Bell was one seriously wealthy monopoly so what would have been the big deal to trash a few thousand test phones that didn't quite cut it?

Ralph
Ralph

JimH

Quote from: JimH on March 02, 2009, 12:06:52 AM
I don't remember what year for sure the seller said it was....I'm thinking it was 1950, though. 

I don't think the seller knew anything about what he was selling, hence just one picture.  I think buyers didn't want to ask too many questions about it (I wouldn't either)  to just get it cheap, hope for the best, and hope it flies under the radar.  As soon as you draw attention, interest goes up, and the price increases.  Obviously, a few people thought it was worthwhile enough to drive the price up.
Jim H.

rp2813

Jim, I sure hope whomever paid $1K for that phone is happy with it!  And I understand per the post from Dennis above that sometimes the less the seller may say, the less the buyer is likely to pay, and that's a good thing where super early 500's are concerned.

Dennis, that 6/50 phone is really a nice one.  When I spotted my 10/50 in a thrift store those many years ago I could see a difference in the number plate but it would have been a real thrill to see the curved "Operator" lettering or the Z-over-zero design.  Either of those types would launch me on a search for a straight handset cord if they didn't already have one.

Ralph
Ralph

Perry

With regard to the idea of Western Electric trashing the 1949 500s, remember the push-button 302 from 1948 that was sold on eBay a few months ago? (http://www.classicrotaryphones.com/forum/index.php?topic=254.0)
Only a few sets were made for testing (less than 40?), and obviously development of that particular technology was abandoned by WE, but not all of them were destroyed. I suspect some of the 1949 500s are still out there. After all, what percentage of people would realize that they are something really special, rather than just another old phone?

rp2813

I know.  It's hard to imagine all '49 models being destroyed but they sure seem to be super scarce.  The other scenario might have been that any '49 models that got deployed to the public were pulled from service in the field once the 425B network was developed and other improvements were made to the 500 chassis in the early years.  Techs may have been instructed to change out '49s and even '50s when they found them.  Just another guess.  Let's hope somebody here ends up with one of those forgotten '49s that might still be out there so we can all get a look at one!

Ralph
Ralph

McHeath

QuoteWith regard to the idea of Western Electric trashing the 1949 500s, remember the push-button 302 from 1948 that was sold on eBay a few months ago?

This is a good point, that was a super rare development phone and it survived somehow.  So perhaps there is a 49' and maybe even a 48', model 500 out there somewhere.  But I'd like to see pictures.  Does anyone even have any single component on a 500 dated 1949?

Perry

I would like to think that some of the 1949s are still out there somewhere, in some forgotten phone company closet, or maybe on someone's grandmother's coffee table, waiting to be discovered.

BTW, here is Paul Fassbender's page on the push-button 302. It took me a while to find it:
http://www.paul-f.com/we1948pb.html

rp2813

I'm with McHeath.  It would be great to see any 500 component with a 1949 date.  Or is it possible they didn't date the '49s for the trials and they all ended up with '50 dates once actual deployment to subscribers at large began?
Ralph

Dan/Panther

I'm convinced that if any 49-500's are out there, they are most likely in some storage warehouse, long forgotten, or in some former Bell Emplyees basement.
I think I will no longer expect to find one at a flea market.

D/P

The More People I meet, The More I Love, and MISS My Dog.  Dan Robinson

rp2813

I guess if there is a WE museum or archives somewhere, a '49 model might be there, or maybe the Smithsonian has one.  I'm not very confident that there might be one sitting around waiting for someone to clean out an attic and then put it up on ebay, but won't go as far a ruling it out entirely.  Best of luck to everyone here in their pursuit of the seemingly mythical 1949 500.  If there's one to be found, there's a decent chance one of the members here could end up locating it.

Ralph
Ralph

McHeath

I hear they have the power to make whoever holds the handset invisible.  Maybe Bigfoot has one eh?