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Soft Plastic Model 554's

Started by jsowers, September 15, 2009, 04:47:44 PM

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jsowers

Topic split and continued from here:

http://www.classicrotaryphones.com/forum/index.php?topic=1494.0


Thanks, Jester, for posting that. Still didn't hit my birthday, the 20th, though. It was a Tuesday. You'd think they would have made something on Tuesday! I guess it keeps me looking.

Dennis, from what I've seen, they didn't make aqua blue soft plastic 554s, or at least nobody has seen one that I know of. I have a color chip chart from 1959 that still had brown in the list, but there's no aqua blue 554 listed, nor pink. I posted a scan of that brochure below.

Also, Dennis, you're also looking for a dark gray 554 like I'm looking for a dark brown one. I have the rest, but not a picture of all of them together. I do have a picture without dark blue, dark beige and dark gray, my last three additions, so I'll post that. Yes, they're hard to display. Mine are propped against a shelf unit, on the floor.

I have a Pacific Telephone ad that shows the colors they came in too. It has light gray and white, so it's from after the color change in 1957-58. No aqua blue or pink. My pink one is from early 1959, and of course different Bells offered different colors sometimes.
Jonathan

JorgeAmely

Jorge

Dennis Markham

My heart rate did increase for a few moments after seeing these but I'll be OK.  Thanks Jonathan for posting the color chart and your photo.  I guess I'll have to get mine out of their boxes and take some photos.  You would think a Light Beige would not be difficult to find but so far no luck here.  I was going by PaulF's site showing Aqua in 1957 but that chart is for the Model 500 and probably does not include the 554's.

Jonathan I would love to see a fresh photo with you latest three added to the mix.

The Operator

Johnathan, that picture is absolutely tasty!

Quote from: Dennis Markham on September 15, 2009, 05:19:38 PM
You would think a Light Beige would not be difficult to find but so far no luck here.

Dennis, is this the mythical beast? http://tinyurl.com/pp9usq

I can't tell for sure if it's the dark or not. ~The Operator
Ever get the urge to call the number on the dial card and say "Hey, I have your phone."

Dennis Markham

#4
I spoke too soon and am modifying my reply.

According to the color suffix on the dial (-50) that is the color for Ivory.  However this phone sure looks like Light Beige.  Were it Dark Beige (or Rose Beige) the numbers/letters would be white.

The photos of the inside of the handset/caps look Ivory on my monitor.  But the other photos do look like Beige.  It's more than likely Ivory.

jsowers

#5
I agree, it's ivory. It's also a record price for it. Ivory may be the most plentiful color in soft plastic 554s, other than black. It did look like light beige in the first few shots, though, but in the closeups it's ivory. It's a hard color to identify. Try asking a seller if a phone is light beige or ivory. You get the same confusion when it's aqua blue vs. turquoise.

I forgot to mention something about the light beige soft plastic 554 in my picture. Did anyone notice it has a mounting cord and a 283B plug? I have always found that odd, and the cord date matches the phone. My pink 554 also came with a cord, but it was separate, and the phone was still in the box, and it wasn't NOS. I guess the light beige one came from a pre-wired home or something and had to plug in to a baseboard jack. I've seen pre-wired homes and sometimes they do put the jacks in odd places, like waist level on the wall.

Jorge, I liked your comment asking if Dennis was OK.  :)  The laugh for the day. I think I've sent him pictures of my phone display, so he was prepared, but not of just the 554s alone. I'll try this weekend to get a picture of the additional three. They also happened to be the rarest three colors I have and two came from BBQBob in Michigan (dark blue and dark beige) when he was selling things off a few years ago.

I've mentioned to Dennis several times that I admired his taste in phones. He and I tend to like the exact same phones and I could really tell after all those auctions where we competed against each other. It's a friendly rivalry and now that I know the person behind the handle, I have the utmost respect for him. He can also spot them like a hawk. Some of his police training, I bet. He would have been a great detective.
Jonathan

Dennis Markham

Thank you Jonathan for the compliments.  I am always circling over soft plastic phones waiting to swoop in and grab them.....as long as I can get them cheap! :)

Dennis Markham

I got the family together for a portrait today.  Absent are White, Light Beige, Dark Gray.

Seated, left to right are, Moss Green, Mahogany Brown, Black, Rose Beige, Light Gray, Rose Pink, Mediterranean Blue, Ivory, Cherry Red and Yellow

Dan

Absolutely beautiful! I only have ONE soft 554 (the obvious black). I am trying to get all the 500's first. I can't imagine how long it took to get these. What was your best bargain out of all of these Dennis?
"Imagine how weird telephones would look if our ears weren't so close to our mouths." - Steven Wright

jsowers

Quote from: Dennis Markham on September 15, 2009, 05:19:38 PM
Jonathan I would love to see a fresh photo with you latest three added to the mix.

Dennis, that's a great family portrait and to paraphrase The Operator, that brown one is TASTY!  ;)

OK, here's the other three I didn't have in the picture. Both are cropped small pictures, but there they are. In December, my Christmas tree is next to my phone collection. I have many collections. Too many!

From left to right, dark beige, dark gray and dark blue. The eagle-eyes might notice that there's a Kellogg handset on the dark beige one. It came that way from Bob and I haven't changed it yet. The dark blue one also came from Bob, minus a cord, so I put a straight gray cord on it.

The dark gray 554 may be my best deal, but I don't have how much I paid entered in my spreadsheet. I don't think it was over $100, but I do remember the auction picture wasn't very good. I know from the seller it came from an elderly man's house and it had an ocean of old stickers and dirt on it. It was very well used. I posted two pictures showing before and after. It still has some deep scratches, but I decided to leave them be.
Jonathan

JorgeAmely

Jorge

Jester

Don't worry Dan, my light gray is feeling a little lonely now, too.  We all know how fast these silly things multiply, though. ;)

Jonathan and Dennis,

Those two collections are quite inspiring.
Stephen

McHeath

Fab collections!  Maybe someday...

The Operator

Man, you guys are killing me. ;D Very nice indeed.

*sings* "Killing me softly with these phones... killing me softly... with these phones... "

That blue is fine! ~The Operator
Ever get the urge to call the number on the dial card and say "Hey, I have your phone."

bingster

Guys, those phones need to be in a museum.  I have a spare room that I'd like to offer as museum space.  Just let me know.  ;)
= DARRIN =