Color Of Phones

[Dan/Panther]

I was looking through ebay, when it hit me, I've never seen a blue phone, not turqoise, .....BLUE.
Why not ? And not a painted one either.
D/P

[Mark Stevens]

I was looking through ebay, when it hit me, I've never seen a blue phone, not turqoise, .....BLUE.
Why not ? And not a painted one either.
D/P

I'm guessing you're talking about a basic "middle of the road" blue, like a royal blue? There was such a color used by W.E. on the model 500, and I've heard it called either blue or dark blue...I don't know which is correct. In either event, they are very rare!

[JimH]

Speaking of colored phones, why don't we ever see colored 5302s on ebay, EVER?  I've seen one website that featured some....also, how about a 554 version of the blue phone with the gray cords?  Anyone know if they were made?

[Mark Stevens]

Speaking of colored phones, why don't we ever see colored 5302s on ebay, EVER?  I've seen one website that featured some....also, how about a 554 version of the blue phone with the gray cords?  Anyone know if they were made?

I'm almost positive that all 5302's were black.  As for the 554, I believe they missed the gray cord era by a few years, having been introduced several years after the 500's introduction.

[BDM]

I agree. The 5302s were strictly built to use up existing 302/H mount parts. Fashion was never a consideration in their short life span. Ma Bell was an extremely frugal company.

[bingster]

Why do you think blue is so rare?  Was it a case of that shade not being popular at the time?  It's a beautiful color, and I'd love to have one.  It just doesn't make sense that such a great color was so frowned upon. 

[Mark Stevens]

Why do you think blue is so rare?  Was it a case of that shade not being popular at the time?  It's a beautiful color, and I'd love to have one.  It just doesn't make sense that such a great color was so frowned upon. 

That is funny, isn't it?  All I can think is that the shade was considered to gaudy at the time, with pastel shades like the aqua blue or pink being more popular.  The brown, another darker color, was equally unpopular.

[JimH]

I agree. The 5302s were strictly built to use up existing 302/H mount parts. Fashion was never a consideration in their short life span. Ma Bell was an extremely frugal company.

Here's a couple of pictures of the colored 5302s from the ATCA website:

[benhutcherson]

Wow, those colored 5302s must be rare as hen's teeth.

So, is brown considered a rare color for 500s? A local antique shop has one for $15-I'm wondering if I should grab it.

[Dan/Panther]

There are a couple on Ebay right now, I don't think any takers, just something about a brown anything....

Vaguely reminds me of something, I  just can't put my finger on it, or would I want to.

D/P

[Mark Stevens]

Wow, those colored 5302s must be rare as hen's teeth.

So, is brown considered a rare color for 500s? A local antique shop has one for $15-I'm wondering if I should grab it.

Dennis Markham could probably give you the scoop on brown 500s, but I believe he said that they're mega-rare...providing they're genuine W.E. and not ITT.

[benhutcherson]

The brown 500 set I mentioned could very well be ITT-I'll have to check on before I buy it. I haven't grabbed it yet because I never found it a particularly attractive color, but if it is indeed rare, I can overlook that for the price 

[bingster]

I think the rare browns are the ones from the 1950s and '60s ('50s, especially).  The modular browns are fairly commonplace.   And we're talking Western Electric, natch.

And the colored 5302s... Holy Cow!   I can't imagine what one of those might go for if it ever came up on ebay.  Quite nifty, those.

[Paul Dietenberger]

The pre-1960 hardwired Bell colored phone series using the soft plastic shells included a medium blue as pictured above and a brown, all with gray handset cords. All the colored soft plastic phones are collectible and expensive, except perhaps the ivory which is more often seen. Many of those colors were discontinued before 1960, including the blue and brown.

Shortly before Ma Bell was broken up there was a new blue commonly known as country blue. Those phones usually have the AT&T label, not the Western Electric label. They aren't that rare; I have one that actually has the old Bell System logo. 4th from the right in the picture below. On this particular unit the base cover was molded in blue but the handset wasn't; it was actually painted blue - the caps used to be red, the handset body ivory.

Left to right - Stromberg brown, WE moss green and light gray (that's a 1986 phone, NIB); four Strombergs in red, orange, yellow and lime; Bell country blue, white, baby pink and baby blue.

http://personalpages.tds.net/~pdieten/500s-small.jpg

[BDM]

Welcome Paul