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Who Amongst Us Has The Oldest 500?

Started by HobieSport, November 26, 2008, 09:53:35 PM

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What's your oldest mostly original 500?

I have a '49, but don't tell anyone.
1 (0.9%)
1950
12 (10.3%)
1951
20 (17.1%)
1952
25 (21.4%)
1953-1957
72 (61.5%)

Total Members Voted: 117

AET

Ouch, well at least it's still a black-bottom phone nonetheless.
- Tom

HobieSport

I wonder if the seller knows that it's not a 1949 and is simply misled by the sticker.  Anyway, I wrote the seller to ask for the dates on all the components. I'll post them if they respond.

Dennis Markham

I agree with Bingster 110%.  Those feet are probably original 1964 or later.  The network block is a later one with a white top.  Early blocks had black tops.  Someone had those stickers and just put that info on there.  After the break-up of AT&T that was the sticker that was put on the bottom when the subscriber purchased their phone or bought one from a phone center.  Like Bingster said, circa 1983-1984.  As we all know a plastic finger wheel was not on the older phones.

HobieSport

Quote from: Dennis Markham
As we all know a plastic finger wheel was not on the older phones.

When did the plastic finger wheels start coming out on the black 500s?

AET

Quote from: HobieSport on May 06, 2009, 08:57:58 PM
I wonder if the seller knows that it's not a 1949 and is simply misled by the sticker.  Anyway, I wrote the seller to ask for the dates on all the components. I'll post them if they respond.

I asked about the internal dates and to post pics of the network, etc.  Of course the lady posted pics where you couldn't see the date on the side of the network.  I described to her what the network was, and she swears it says 500-49 on it.
- Tom

Dan

[
When did the plastic finger wheels start coming out on the black 500s?
[/quote]



I think the metal ones were gone in 1965
"Imagine how weird telephones would look if our ears weren't so close to our mouths." - Steven Wright

Dennis Markham

That sounds right to me too Dan.  By 1965 the hard center plastic finger wheels were being put on black sets too (in addition to the color sets).

HobieSport

#37
Quote from: AtomicEraTom
I asked about the internal dates and to post pics of the network, etc.  Of course the lady posted pics where you couldn't see the date on the side of the network.  I described to her what the network was, and she swears it says 500-49 on it.

Hmm.  Maybe ask her to send better pics that show and confirm the dates so they are really readable?  But then, if someone really did want to fake some dates, it would be fairly easy.

McHeath

Weird fraud this phone.  Anyone with some phone knowledge is going to be able to tell that this is a mid-ish 60's model as you've all noted, but they are trying to pass it off as a uber rare 49'model. 

Why?

Are they simply being fooled themselves, read someplace that the model 500 was introduced in "1949" so that's what it must be?

Are they outright lying to try to get a big buck sale?  Their reply to AtomicEraTom makes me wonder if this is going on here.  And yeah, that date on the sticker is flat out deception, those were early 80's stickers. 

Hmm. 

rp2813

For sure anyone who would be interested in a real '49 500 would know that this item is no such thing and that the seller doesn't know the first thing about old phones.  If the seller did, they'd know how stupid it looks to try and pass this phone off as 1949 by using a post-divestiture sticker to prove it.  Or, and I'll be a little more polite and cite ignorance here, maybe the seller got this phone from someone else who had already written the bogus info on the tag and truly thinks it's a '49 phone. 

Too bad.  I think if this person actually had a '49 to sell it would probably have an insanely low BIN price.

Ralph
Ralph

Jester

I tried to post this earlier, but neglected to "shrink" my image file. :-\  We'll try again.
This is a pic of my 12/50 500.  I consider this phone to be the second collectible phone in my collection, although I came to own this one by trading a '55 Frankenfive-hundred for it after I had thoroughly cleaned up the trade-in.  Not all dates are on or around 1950, but enough are that I still call this "My '50".  Most dates on it are 12/50, with the earliest components being from July, October and November of that year.  The plastic case has a date of 8/12/52.  The receiver cap is a '51 and the receiver element is from '53.  It had a spring cord on the handset from '57, but I very recently switched it with the straight cord as I like the look of them.  The straight one is from '56.  The line cord was with the phone when I got it & is dated '55.  As you can see in the picture, I have not yet worked on removing/ lessening imperfections and wear from the case.  This forum has some great threads posted that describe how to deal with that, & I plan to try my hand at improving the shine on this case as I have time.  Stay tuned!!! 
Stephen

HobieSport

Jester, which component is from July 1950?  Is that not the oldest date component on a 500 yet posted on this thread?  I'm not sure.  So many phones...so little time... ;)

Jester

H/S,
It's the network--but the base still has 12/50 stamped on it.  I don't think any of my other 500's have dates spread that far between these two components.  I can't remember what the earliest month posted was, but I thought someone had a March stamp on a base.
Stephen

McHeath

My research would seem to indicate that mid 1950 is when 500s went into significant production levels.  I've heard someplace of one component dated 1/50, but I can't find that reference and so it may be mistaken memory. 

That's interesting that you have a phone with a July 1950 network and Dec 1950 base.  That might indicate that production was a bit hodge podge that year. 

It's a nice phone. 

rp2813

I agree that 1950 was more of a ramp-up year for the 500 model.  July 1950 does sound to me like the oldest 500 component we've heard about thus far.  Perhaps some components were being manufactured earlier than others, and bases were one of the last to be produced.  Dates on my 10/50 are fairly close with the only older component being the equalizer, dated 9/12/50. 

Handsets and cases are where you find later dates most of the time, which makes sense.  My handset is original but the transmitter it had was dated 1953.  It also had a coiled cord.  I may someday replace it with a straight cord if I find one.

Jester, that is going to be a very handsome phone once you get it all shined up.  I hope you'll post more pictures here of the finished product when the time comes.

Ralph
Ralph