I won a lot of these 554 shells on ebay along with two NOS ITT red 554 shells with dial blanks. One of these is used and black, the other two are NOS and a true light grey (they look beige in the pictures.) They all have single mouseholes and a slot for the bell volume lever on the bottom but no internal markings at all. I know Webster is an intercom company and think it is interesting that they had their own plastics made. I imagine these might have had dial blanks and were employed as some sort of entryway communicator. I want to keep one of these and build it out as 554 phone--however I realize finding light grey parts is going to require some patience on my part for sure.
Do the shells have any dates stamped or molded inside? Are they soft plastic or ABS?
Larry
They are definitely hard plastic and have absolutely no markings. The inside cases have only several circles from where they were injection molded, a reinforced filled sleeved blank where a indicator light or two line knob would be inserted, and are missing the pair of upper ribs on the side housing (like would be missing on an earlier WE 554 case)
I have a 500 set with the Webster Electric logo. It appears to have been assembled with ITT /Kellogg parts.
I have seen Webster Electric intercoms also
most likely they were used in a business setting, possibly a school....
Via simple Google search:
Thank you.
I found a few Worthpoint listings for 500 type Webster Electric phones but cannot see if they had logo's on the Handset. rdelius, does your 500 have a webster marked handset?
https://www.worthpoint.com/worthopedia/vintage-1950s-grey-webster-electric-1822329940
I also found a detailed history of the company published in a newsletter of the Wisconsin Antique Radio Collector's club which does not reference it as a telecom or mention "phones" as a product they produced exactly:
http://warci.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/01/sept14.pdf
It is in storage but i believe the handset is marked also. This is a black set with a numbers only dial .I think the handset is bakelite also