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and very rarely ever needs repairs, once you fix them." - Dan/Panther

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Now the Story Can be Told - 1949 WECo 500 Set

Started by Dan/Panther, March 20, 2010, 11:08:11 PM

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Dan/Panther

They use Polene paint.
The way my hand shakes now I doubt I could duplicate the finger wheel.
I mean really, I can thread a sewing machine while it's running.

D/P

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

HarrySmith

I just went through part of this thread just for kicks as it has been a while. It still amazes me!
At one point there was a discussion about putting together a booklet illustrating the restoration. I could not find any talk on whether or not it was happening. I think it would be a great idea as the thread is very long and takes quite a while to wade through. Something documenting with pictures the restoration including sourced parts (and where they came from), the parts you made (and the process) and the cleaning. If this was all put togehter somehow it would be easier to read & enjoy.
Just a thought.
EDIT: apparently some pictures are already gone such as the auction pictures. I hope they are saved somewhere!
Harry Smith
ATCA 4434
TCI

"There is no try,
there is only
do or do not"

Dan/Panther

Yes, a book was in the works. We had issues with how to present some of the information, so things stalled, and just didn't get started again. I have thought about starting it up again.

D/P

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

HarrySmith

I, for one, would support it. If you need anything I can help with just let me know.
Harry Smith
ATCA 4434
TCI

"There is no try,
there is only
do or do not"

Dan/Panther

I will dig out all of the pages saved so far and see how much needs finished.

D/P

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

Vern P

Yes I know this can be a lot of work, but I do hope this will come to pass.
Vern

Partyline4

Quote from: RotarDad on August 31, 2018, 09:39:28 PM
Dan - Value is super hard when there is only one, as you well know.  I would bet your field trial set is much more valuable than any other 500, but you'd only know by auctioning it off, which you probably won't do.  I guess you could EBay with sky-high reserve and test the waters..... :o.  The challenge is that dollars aren't the big question here.  If it were mine, I'd want some compensation if possible, but the longevity in the public domain would be very important.  Couldn't hurt to chat with the Seattle museum folks to see where it might go.....



+1

I'd love to see a mock eBay listing and see where it went....A lot of people might not realize the importance of it, otherwise a large group of collectors could throw you their numbers and see where it goes. There could be an avid collector out there, not even a member of the forum that silently hunts eBay looking for just your phone.....

I would certainly sell it, get some money to enjoy life with. I wouldn't just give it away without some green crossing my palm.

MMikeJBenN27

This is one of the 1948 prototypes - the Field Trial sets.  Yours is extremely rare - maybe only 3 or 4 exist.  Naturally, now that I said that, all sorts of others might pop up!

RotarDad

Quote from: MMikeJBenN on February 12, 2019, 08:27:15 AM
maybe only 3 or 4 exist.

Do you have any specifics in support of other surviving sets?  So far I don't think any evidence has surfaced here on the forum regarding the existence of any more of these sets.  We'd love more info if you have some.
Paul

Dan/Panther

To date I have not heard nor seen any reference to another set like the 48-500.
In fact I haven't heard of any matching parts. Many of the internal parts are not what was used in the final version of the 500. Of course that doesn't mean there aren't others out there. Mine was in such bad condition, that it tells me they weren't of too much interest at the time, and I fear many were destroyed, or are in land fills.
In the future I am sure someone will uncover a hoard of old phone related parts, maybe at the old Bell Laboratories ( Lucent Technologies  ) I would love to have free reign in that building for 1 day. Then again, when Ma Bell was dismantled, maybe it was all trashed.
At this point I have no idea where my phone will end up when I finally make my last call and hang up. I would be VERY reluctant to sell it. I would like to see it end up in a museum, but choosing would be very hard.
Maybe it will end up finishing the journey it was on when I obtained stewardship of it. I hope not, but one never knows.


D/P

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

RotarDad

Dan - It was so great that you were the guy to identify and buy it.  You did an awesome job on the restoration and involving the entire forum in the process.  The best thread on this forum in many ways, in my opinion.  For me a nice black 500 will always be my favorite - it is awesome to have the beginning of the 500 story with your field trial set.  :)
Paul

Dan/Panther

Right now as I write this I can see the phone in it's cabinet across the room. It just never gets old. I love opening the cabinet just to spin the dial.
I was very lucky to be the one to receive this wonderful phone.
I'm still going through the old files on the book that myself and Bwanna had started.

D/P 

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

MMikeJBenN27

Wow!  Is it dated?  If not, this is probably one of the 1948 prototypes!  Priceless!

Dan/Panther

The phone has no dates anywhere. In fact all of the components so far I have not seen duplicates of any of them. The entire phone does however match part for part of the original WE patent drawings dated 1947-1949. I tried to find the spot where the original patent drawings are with dates. I couldn't find them. Paul has some on his site but not dated copies.

D/P

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

MMikeJBenN27

Wow!  This is one of the 1948 Field Trial sets, or one of the final prototypes!  Notice the switch levers - horizontal instead of vertical, and also notice the odd baseplate.  There are many more details that aren't in the picture, such as how the ringer mounts, the fingerwheel must be plastic, as it is broken off.  This is worth a fortune!

Mike