Four phones at the local antique market

[allnumbedup]

I found 15 phones in a quick stop at a local antique market.  I have been to this one dozens of times over years and only got 1/2 through before an appointment pulled me away. I thought these potential finds were interesting but did not get any of them.

#1 AE 80E for $35 dated 1974. The solid red back painted faceplate got my attention. I am only used to clear plastic "fashion plate" ones with paper inserts and really like this one.
#2 WE 233? Payphone for $375. Not uncommon to see a payphone in an antique mall but I thought this one was nicer than average. However, no keys and has a G3 handset that looks residential so may be gutted inside.
#3 AE monophone for $95. The extensicord got my attention. It is torn at one part but possible to shorten. Brass rings and finger wheel Missing bottom gasket. I was interested in the handset markings which look unusual to me, but then noticed the hang tag was snagged in a crack that goes completely around the handset.
#4 WE white princess 2712b plus interphone bottom for $30. This one I came the closest to buying. It has its 14 line cord attached to the base of an interphone with a modular station cord jack.  It is date matching 1971 with an exclusion key but has nicks at the side of the desi strip cover on the right and is missing thread on the one handset cap which still holds tightly.  I am thinking I could restore the plastics but left it there .....

[Contempra]

Nice phones anyways , but I would have taken the Princess phone. The reason is simple, I can't find any Princess touch-tone phones here in Quebec... I found one 6 or 7 years ago, but with a plastic dial (plastic wheels except the governor). It works but I don't use it and it's just for decoration.

[poplar1]

#2 WE 233? Payphone for $375. Not uncommon to see a payphone in an antique mall but I thought this one was nicer than average. However, no keys and has a G3 handset that looks residential so may be gutted inside.

Dial shroud is Northern Electric. Instruction card is AE. You could always deposit 2 nickels with the handset offhook, to see if the first nickel is stopped by the gate, and that the second one causes both to go through and hit the 5c gong twice.

[LarryInMichigan]

The Princess Interphone might be worth quite a bit more than $30.

Larry

[MMikeJBenN27]

I might have bought that Princess too, as hard-wired Touch-Tone (Digitone) phones are not common.  Most Touch-Tones are modular.

Mike

[compubit]

#1 AE 80E for $35 dated 1974. The solid red back painted faceplate got my attention. I am only used to clear plastic "fashion plate" ones with paper inserts and really like this one.

If it's dated 1974, could it be one of the rarer AE80 Touch calling phones (based on the classic AE80 base)? IIRC the plastics were similar, but the face plate was painted...

J

[allnumbedup]

I wound up returning today with more time.  I wound up purchasing one of the four phones above, finishing the mall, and buying two others!!. I also saw a unrestored but clean 1990's GTE fortress payphone priced at $89 I did not purchase. I will post these three purchased finds separately and focus on the others here.

If it's dated 1974, could it be one of the rarer AE80 Touch calling phones (based on the classic AE80 base)? IIRC the plastics were similar, but the face plate was painted...

I looked again and it is 1974 and an older back painted faceplate on the 80E for sure.

Dial shroud is Northern Electric. Instruction card is AE. You could always deposit 2 nickels with the handset offhook, to see if the first nickel is stopped by the gate, and that the second one causes both to go through and hit the 5c gong twice.

 wouldn't have know by the dial shroud. The coin return gives it away too I think. The handset is a G3 by NE. AE card looks vintage.  I asked and the mall owner produced a vault key. I noticed the serial number plaque on top is gone and their is a stub of armored cord with the new cord worked around it. There is a hole made in the back and the bolts have been reversed. It has a NE marked vault door lock and a coin box. The nickels go to the vault off hook as described above and to the coin return when on hook.

[rdelius]

The type 80E had a plastic baseplate .The type 80 touch calling had a metal baseplate. The 80e plastic cover will fit on  the older sets.

[Stormcrash]

The AE with the red faceplate is more accurately the 80TC (touch call) and isn't very common to see compared to the regular 80 rotary or the later 80E

[allnumbedup]

Thanks for the correction and indeed this red and black phone had a metal cadmium type base. Looking through ebay and here, it seems like white ones of these survive so my  next question was what other body colors and what color back painted faceplates were used for these. Like most questions I have, most answers are already here but then I come up with more:

http://www.classicrotaryphones.com/forum/index.php?topic=4635.msg59341#msg59341

The picture is a recent ebay sale of back painted faceplates that were up for a bit and then sold. The pictures of the push button 'dial' are one I found in a box lot that I wonder may have come from such an earlier model 80 TC?

[Kellogg Kitt]

This has been an interesting thread.  I never knew there was an 80TC.  I have seen only the "Fashion Plates."  Even though they are cheaper plastic construction, I assumed that was GTE/AE's answer to touch calling on standard desk set.  I think GTE (the Telephone Company) offered Fashion Plates in the Phone Mart stores  But I don't know; at first glance, the 80TC looks just like a Fashion Plate.  Maybe I saw 80TCs in there and just assumed that they were Fashion Plates.

On the black and red one pictured here, why is there no "OPER" on the zero key?  Perhaps it was made for Canada?  I have some Fashion Plates and some Starlites, and all have "OPER" on the zero key.

[Stormcrash]

I would need to verify but I think by the time of the GTE Phone Mart they had rolled out the 80E to cost reduce and simplify the lineup, sharing the same base and housing with both rotary and push button, using more plastic, and using paper mats to change the face color instead of the painted ribbed ones. If not then the 80E came out very soon after, and older rental sets were usually refurbished into an 80E housing/faceplate

GTE also seems to have been a slow adopter of touch tone as well, hence why they had the UDK (Universial Dialing Keyset) phones that had push buttons that made dial pulses, to let them and their customers give the appearance of having a more fancy phone/service/switching than was available

A few years ago there was another of those white 80TC with red faceplate on eBay and I regret not trying to bid on it