Southern Bell - Design Line Folder

[teka-bb]

Today I scanned and uploaded a Southern Bell - Design Line Folder to the TCI Library:

http://www.telephonecollectors.info/index.php?option=com_docman&task=doc_details&gid=4557&Itemid=2

Does anyone know when it was published?

It is an interesting document because it contains the prices of the phones.

I don't think I've ever seen the 'Commemorative Elite' handsome bicentennial-theme phone before.

[Just4Phones]

I remember when I was a kid (late 70's) you could go to the phone store at the mall and buy these phones. I bought the cheapest one they had at the time the Exeter I think it was called?  I paid around 70 bucks    I recently offered my soul to the devil for the "country blue" phone but i guess he does not want it since I still can't find one in decent shape

[jsowers]

Remco, this brochure has to date to either 1975 or 76, I would think. It from when the Design Line phones first came out ("twelve new phones"), and Bicentennial items were not so popular after 1976, since it was pretty much over after July, 1976. Also I don't see the Sculptura, which Paul's site says was offered in 1977. The brochure could be as early as 1974 since his site also says all these models were introduced in 1974.

The earliest model Accents had the Bell logo and model name incised into the plastic on top and I don't see that in picture 3.

Maybe circa 1975 would be the best way to categorize it? That's also when modular phones with RJ11 plugs became available.

[jsowers]

  I recently offered my soul to the devil for the "country blue" phone but i guess he does not want it since I still can't find one in decent shape

Do you mean the blue Accent phone in photo 3? That's sometimes called a Delft Accent and yes, they're hard to find in good shape. I have one and two of the four screw mounts that hold it together are broken. It looks good on the outside, but it didn't hold together very well on the inside.

This brings up another interesting thing about Design Line phones that not everyone may know. You bought the outside shell and the phone company still owned the guts and fixed them as long as you leased the phone. Supposedly if you changed your mind and wanted a different model, they took the guts back and you kept the outsides. I don't think that happened much, if at all in real life because few gutless shells are found. But it's funny to think they wouldn't fix the outside, just the inside.

Thanks, Remco, for sharing this nice brochure. It was great to see and especially the prices, which aren't normally seen.

[paul-f]

Great detective work, Jonathan!

I found a similar brochure from New York Telephone titled "Ten new telephones from the people who brought you the first one..."

It is also undated, has a photo of an earlier Accent with the taller case and is missing photos 11 and 12 (Coquette and Commemorative Elite).

Prices were cheaper for the following:
 Accent - $55.95
 Exeter - $49.95
 Elite - $69.95
 Candlestick - $64.95
 Celebrity - $69.95

Later Design Line material from Bell of Pennsylvania dated 4/79 still includes the Stars and Stripes Candlestick and Commemorative Elite.  They were not marketed as Bicentennial phones, so the Stars and Stripes could be viewed as a colorful, patriotic phone and the Elite Commemorative could be bought either with or without the 4 Bicentennial medallions [as you see in the brochure called "four commemorative medallion inserts"].

The buyer of a Commemorative set without inserts could apply a plaque to commemorate an event such as a retirement, wedding, birthday or personalize it for a gift recipient.