Belated Birthday Present - Soft Plastic Model 500

[Dennis Markham]

Although my birthday was nearly three months ago, I received a gift yesterday from an older sister.  She lives about thirty miles from me and had been telling me she picked up a birthday gift for me.  Neither of us had driven the distance for a visit as something always changed plans.  Then yesterday, another sister visiting from out of State brought me the gift.  I had figured it was a phone.

I was handed a brown paper bag with an object inside.  No one ever said it was a telephone.  I just assumed it was.  I felt the features through the bag to see if I could tell what kind.  Finally I opened the bag and pulled out a Moss Green model 500.  Now since my family members know I collect phones but know nothing about them I don't get too excited.  I figured maybe a modular 500 from the 60's or later but this one was starting to look pretty good.

Let's see......leather feet, a GRAY STRAIGHT handset cord!, a cloth mounting cord with 283B 4 Prong plug on the end, a soft center finger wheel with an exchange name on the card.  Wow, this was quite a phone.  Looking further a six hole ear cap and the date on the bottom is 4/55.  My birth month and year.  And then the smell hit me...cheese!  Soft plastic.

I opened it up and sure enough, this is an all original telephone from April of 1955.  Boy, my sister did good!

So I call her up to thank her and ask her where in the world she found this phone.  She was excited that I was so excited.  She had no clue that the phone she bought at a local flea market was something so collectible.  It was just luck.  I had to ask her the last question........how much did she pay for it?  She said "they wanted $5" but my brother-in-law (her husband) had dickered with the seller so long that the guy finally said, just give me a buck for it.  A dollar!  I can't seem to find phones like this but someone that has no idea walks up and gets a soft plastic 1955 phone, with Neutral Gray handset cord for a buck.  I couldn't believe it.

It will clean up very nice.  No cracks, no chips.....a small ding on the front but I can get rid of that.

So with all of that out of the way, there are a couple of things that I find unusual about this phone.  

One is the mounting cord.  It is cloth covered.  What I would expect on a Model 302.  The strain relief was mounted by putting the ringer mounting screw through the strain relief hook and tightened down.  I thought it may be a field installation.  If so, the strain relief is also dated II 55, the same date as the rest of the phone.

Then inside, "under the hood" was a small piece of paper.  It was/is rolled up and yellowed.  I opened up the piece of paper and it has a number which reminded me of an inspector's number.  One you might see in the pocket of a shirt or pair of pants or something. (See Photos).  It looks like the number was on a sheet of others and torn at perforated edges.

Have any of you ever come upon one of these?  Any clues what it could be?  I think this phone is original.  The exchange is CEdar  2 - 7884.

The parts are dated as follows:

Base: 4-55
Cover: 4-11-55 1
Bells: - 4-55
Dial: 7C, -51, 4-55
Handset Shell:  4-55
Caps:4-55
Elements:  4-12-55
Gray Handset Cord: 55
Cloth Mounting Cord:  I 55

My sister had no clue about all of this.  It was just blind luck.  I think from now on I'll send her out to find me phones!  Oh, and now I know the spending limit on family birthday gifts----a buck.

[JorgeAmely]

Lucky guy!

[McHeath]

Holy Luck O' The Irish Batman!  And for a dollar!?  A dollar!!? 

That cloth mounting cord just shows that the Bell System was filled with odd exceptions to the usual rules. 

Geesh, I'm jealous.   

[Dennis Markham]

Yes, I am lucky that my sister is lucky!

[bwanna]

nice phone! & great story, dennis.
do you know where the CEdar2 exchange is?

ps. happy belated birthday

[Dennis Markham]

Thank you Bwanna.  This site: http://rcrowe.brinkster.net/tensearch.aspx
shows a CEdar exchange in Flint, MI among other places.  It is likely it came from the Flint area since the phone was purchased at a flea market in near-by Lapeer (MI).

[mienaichizu]

your lucky Dennis!

[Dan/Panther]

Great gift, must be the season for moss green 55/500's, The case handset and dial on mine were dated 11-55. No gray handset cord though.

D/P

[foots]

You lucky dog! You not only got a numbers matching phone, but its also moss green AND has a straight cord. I hope you're going to leave that cloth mounting cord on it. I think that a phone such as yours shows that nothing was written in stone when it comes to Bell Telephones.

[jsowers]

I think that could be one of the best deals ever on a phone. It's in great condition, a beautiful, rare and gently used phone too. Sis hit the jackpot. I've seen cloth mounting cords once or twice on phones of that vintage. It's not common, and likely the result of someone using up old stock. Whether it's the plant in Indianapolis or the installer in Michigan, we'll never know. I agree that you should keep it on there since the rest of the phone seems to be untouched.

I don't know what that slip of paper is. I've never seen that inside a phone before. It does look like a serial number or something from one of those Bates stampers like the school system used to stamp their textbooks back in the dark ages.

And about your previous gift experiences from non-collectors, I've had the same thing. Many faded modular phones and ITTs and such have come my way and I do appreciate the thoughts, but rarely the phones. But once my first cousin's wife gave me her pink childhood Trimline, from 1969, for Christmas. And a custodian friend in one of our schools gave me a patriotic candlestick Design Line phone when I helped her with her computer. Both of those actually filled holes in my collection, so every now and then you do get a good one. Congratulations!

[McHeath]

That piece of paper looks kind of familiar in some odd way, like something I've seen at some point but have forgotten what and when and why. 

I've had some good luck on old phones here and there given as gifts, but I've never seen anything like this phone you got in a local flea market, yard sale, estate sale or even antique store.  There just don't seem to be a lot of phones left from the hardwired era in my neck of the woods, and even modular classic phones are rare here.  I think most of them went into the landfills already as people cleaned house. 

[Dennis Markham]

In reexamining the photo (and the mounting cord) a worn spot is visible where the cord rubbed the edge of the base all of these years.

Since posting this I plugged the 4 prong plug into an adapter and have it plugged in at my desk---just for grins.  Who ever attached the 4 prong plug must have connected the yellow lead with red or green because it rings on in-coming calls.  The black ringer wire is attached to the G terminal.  It is rather dirty and won't be sitting here long, but for now I had to give it a test drive.  As filthy as the finger wheel area is, it is one of the smoothest 7 series dials I have and I haven't touched it (as far as cleaning).  Maybe I should just leave the dial alone when I refurbish the phone.

[bwanna]

dennis
tyvm for the link to  exchange website, but i couldn't find my exchange.   i wonder where sargeguy gets the info for his customized dial cards?    sargeguy, will you tell us my local phone book tells me that 232 is indeed a flint exchange.

guess i need to start hitting that lapeer flea market again. i quit going years ago, as it was getting pretty tacky. sometimes, tho, those are just the right kind of places to find a real steal.

[Dennis Markham]

I KNEW I shouldn't have said where it came from............ 

[Dan/Panther]

Dewnnis;
I often wondered why they didn't have serial numbers on the phones, maybe that paper was exactly that, but most don't survive.
D/P

Bwanna;
I live in California, but I'm thinking about making a trip to that flea market. It would be worth it.
D/P