Mahogany WE 591 dated 9/55

[cchaven]

Today was my lucky day.  While browsing an antique mall not far from here, I spotted a brown telephone.  It turned out to be a mahogany WE 591 A/B dated 9/55 thru out except for the transmitter, which is dated 8/58.  It seems to have had a clear coat sprayed over it at some point, or maybe overspray in a shop.  It's thin and flaking off in spots.  Still, not bad for $12!

Jeff

[WesternElectricBen]

That sounds like an excellent find, I am quite jelious!

Can you post a picture for us to see it?

Ben

[Gilas]

That's a find of the month for sure. Have some pictures?  Congrats on the great find

Mike

[cchaven]

Here are some pictures showing some of the dates, including the back of the dial showing the color code of "-54".  It was really hard to try and capture the brown though.  It's soft plastic, has brown straight cords, and no ringer.

Jeff

[Dennis Markham]

That was a great find!  The brown straight handset cord alone is worth many times the price you paid for the phone.  Congrats!

[LarryInMichigan]

It is a 591 which I believe was supplied without a ringer.  The local telco would install a frequency ringer according to the subscriber getting the phone.  You got the bargain of the year.

Larry

[RotarDad]

Wow, just awesome!  There can't be too many brown 591s with straight cords left, and yours looks to be very nice under that over spray.  Get that off (very carefully, of course...) and that's a real keeper.  It would be nice to see a cleaned-up pic of that "Western Electric" shell logo in Brown.

Dennis - Don't you have a brown 500 with a straight cord also?  I remember a restoration album I believe......

[Dennis Markham]

Dennis - Don't you have a brown 500 with a straight cord also?  I remember a restoration album I believe......

Yes, I do but the straight handset cord was added after the fact.  Steve Hilsz had a couple of NOS cords that he was selling and I was able to get one of them.

[jsowers]

You got a fantastic deal on an exceedingly rare phone! Congratulations! Be sure to submit it for Find of the Month for December. It's a shoe-in.

I too have a brown soft plastic 500 with a straight handset cord, but it was also after the fact like Dennis' phone. Mine originally came with a badly broken brown coil cord and I happened to find a replacement in a cord lot on eBay.

Rubbing or polishing compound may be your best bet for removing the overspray stuff on this phone. It should be a great project for you. You can also use denatured alcohol, but only on the cords. Not on the plastics. It will dissolve them.

Please post some "after" pictures when you get it finished.

[cchaven]

Thanks for all the encouragement.  I'd missed out on a couple of brown 500's in the past because I couldn't decide if they were brown or not from the pictures...they were the typical ebay listing of 'old phone' with not much else.

Sarge was already kind enough to nominate it for find of the month.  Despite my early 302's and two '51 500's, I've never entered anything into it.

I'd certaily hate to screw this one up, so I'll be taking it pretty slow.  Even then I don't see it coming out looking as nice as the one Dennis did!

Jeff

[RotarDad]

Thanks for posting that pic Dennis - your work is stellar.  M-brown is one of my favorites - just like fine chocolate!   I am working on an M-brown I found recently (a coiled cord '56).  It has some issues, but I hope to get it back together soon.  Like you, Jeff, I don't think I'll get it to Dennis' level, but his work does encourage us all to put a bit more elbow grease into the polishing process.......