Another Interesting find

[Dan]

I went to my local antique mall and spotted  a phone laying on the floor. I wanted it immediately. Do you know the feeling you get when you flip the price tag and hope the dealer doesn't know what they have? Well, it had $15 on it !  It had no exposed wall cord. The bakelite is cracked in the back with some kinda silicone on it. Since I know next to nothing about these, it took me a while to open it. A little schematic fell out.  There were two exposed  wires inside. I figured they where the L1 red and L2 green. I spliced a cord on--Dial tone, dialed it up on the cell phone---RINGGGGG. Sounds just like my AE40 desk set! I love the Automatic Electric bell sound.  Here's some pics. When did they make these? How do you find a date? The earpiece has four holes. I have chrome bands from an AE40 with an eighthole earpiece that look better with the chrome dial. Did these come with chrome handset bands like the AE40's and would it be correct to use the chrome bands on this? Is this what they call a jukebox phone?



Cracked back



Chrome bands added



Thanks!

[bingster]

Even with the crack, that's a heck of a deal, Dan!  And the crack is no big deal.  Only part of it is visible, and it's not very noticeable.  According to one site, these were made from 1938 to 1956.  Great find!

[HobieSport]

Dan it's an AE 50 "jukebox" phone, and I love them.  They are the wall version of the AE 40 so the guts are similar.  And yes, they came with both the chrome and the black handsets.  These phones are a rare case where the wall models seem to often have higher prices than the more common desk models.  A black cap model with no chips or cracks goes for about $80 on Ebay.  I picked one up for $40. with a tiny crack under one screw on the front.

You sure can't go wrong for $15 and no shipping, and I'll bet you can fix that crack and maybe even polish it out.

As for finding the date of an individual phone, anyone please correct me if I'm wrong, but I've never found a date inside or outside of an AE 40 or 50.  Rather aggravating.

Anyway, congrats on the great buy.

[McHeath]

Great find!  I saw one last summer for 75 in an antique store, so you did fabulous. 

Funny that AE did not date their phones, why was that?

[HobieSport]

It is really a mystery why AE didn't date the model 40 and 50 phones, unless there are some kind of date codes that I don't understand how to read.  I love knowing the dates when all the phone parts where made, especially since these models where made before, during(?) and after WWll.

[mienaichizu]

A friend of mine, an antique dealer also have this phone. It has been in display on his shop ever since and he doesn't want to sell it. Last week I visited him again and ask about the phone and told him that I really wanted it since that is the only AE50 I've seen in the Philippines. Finally he decided to sell it and placed a $50 price tag to it but still doubtful about selling his only vintage phone. Well, he told me to visit him again this week and let's see if he will sell it to me or not. I'm hoping that he will sell it to me. I really like that phone. Before that, is the price enough for it?

[HobieSport]

It's hard to put a price/value on your friend's AE 50 Ramil without knowing what model it is and it's condition. I'm assuming it is a standard black AE 50? Does it have the black or chrome ringed handset caps, and is the dial black or chrome (or sometimes bronze, I believe.  I have an AE 40 with bronze dial.)

Just going by current U.S. Ebay prices, the black AE 50s with black handset and black or chrome dial with no chips or cracks, seem to be going for around $80., and chrome ringed handsets for more.  But that's not to say that they are worth that much.  That's just Ebay.  Does the phone work and is it complete inside?  No cracks or chips?  Cord condition?  There are just too many variables to say without seeing it.

But I hope it's a nice one and you can get a decent price.  The AE 50s and AE 40s were the first vintage phones that really "caught my eye" when I first started looking at mid-century phones, besides the Western Electrics, of course.

[Dan]

I am happy to know it is such a popular phone! I love the chiseled edges. Kinda looks----aaaa--art-deco (ducks, everyone hates that overused term!). I am going to the bakelite repairthread I saw on this site and try to fix her up. . This sucker's heavy,  bet the shipping would about run me what the phone costs. I am going to mount it  on the wall and switch out the turquoise WE554 and give her a little rest

[Dennis Markham]

Dan, you got a good buy on that phone, even with the crack.  I have been watching for one and have just never pushed the button on one off eBay.  Last fall I was in Hawaii and stopped at an antique store.  There was one there that looked pretty rough, although no cracks and they wanted $65.  I was tempted but figured I'd have to ship it back and just didn't want to go through the hassle at the time.  Nice buy.

[bingster]

I love the chiseled edges. Kinda looks----aaaa--art-deco (ducks, everyone hates that overused term!).

This is one of the few phones that can honestly live up to that term.

[mienaichizu]

It's hard to put a price/value on your friend's AE 50 Ramil without knowing what model it is and it's condition. I'm assuming it is a standard black AE 50? Does it have the black or chrome ringed handset caps, and is the dial black or chrome (or sometimes bronze, I believe.  I have an AE 40 with bronze dial.)

Just going by current U.S. Ebay prices, the black AE 50s with black handset and black or chrome dial with no chips or cracks, seem to be going for around $80., and chrome ringed handsets for more.  But that's not to say that they are worth that much.  That's just Ebay.  Does the phone work and is it complete inside?  No cracks or chips?  Cord condition?  There are just too many variables to say without seeing it.

I've seen the phone almost two years ago and what I remember, it has no chrome bands on the handset, no chips nor cracks but I am not sure if it is complete inside. I'm giving a visit to him by these week and lets see what will happen

[Dan]

I took a chance since they were closing soon and I had no screwdriver. I tried a dime (I use dimes to open We500's)--they work. I really didn't know if all the "guts" were there but they were.

[HobieSport]

I love the chiseled edges. Kinda looks----aaaa--art-deco (ducks, everyone hates that overused term!).

This is one of the few phones that can honestly live up to that term.

Bingster (and anyone who cares to comment); What other phones besides the AE 50, if any, would you say can stand up to the term "art deco" and why?

WE 302?
AE 34 and 40?
Kellogg Redbar 1000?
Other?

Thanks in advance for any thoughts.  I've always been curious about this.

[bingster]

That's a tough one.  I think the majority of phones of the 1930s and '40s had little in the way of identifying "moderne" characteristics that we all know.  They seem to have been designed (from a visual standpoint) without any extremes of styling in order to harmonize with the majority of homes, which, despite what was seen in the movies, were anything but art deco.  I guess what I'm saying is that most phones were specifically designed to be as unobtrusive as possible.

However, there were some standouts in my mind.  The AE 50, AE 34 and to a lesser degree the AE 40, for example.  Also the Kellogg "ashtray" phones, both the slim manual version and the larger dial version.  The original prototype of the 302 from 1932 was very streamlined, but the case was shortened considerably for the final release, and so it lost a lot of it's "deco-ness." 

I'd have to completely eliminate my favorite, the 202.  Even though the phone was ubiquitous in the art deco age, Dreyfuss drew his inspiration from European phones (specifically French phones), and as a result, it's a bit too fancy to be considered art deco.

Of course, in ebay world, they're ALL art deco, from candlesticks to Trimlines.

[Dan/Panther]

My personal feeling is that the W.E.-202, was the last W.E. phone to be truly Art Deco.
Other brands I'm not that familiar with.
D/P