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A Mahogany Brown beauty in the horizon ...

Started by JorgeAmely, May 31, 2009, 11:32:12 PM

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JorgeAmely

Jorge

McHeath

Looks like a nice phone.  What is up with the black dial bezel?  Is that original?

bingster

Odd that he gives the dates for everything but the dial
= DARRIN =



Jester

That dial sure looks like a #9 to me.  How many other mahogany 500's have you seen for sale recently, though?
Stephen

JorgeAmely

zero. Weren't the 9Cs produced in the late 60s?

You may find a 7C/D from the right time period, with the incorrect color code, but finding a Mahogany brown numbers wheel will require firing up the old time machine.


Jorge

benhutcherson

Right, I agree that the chances of finding one would be slim to none.

Although it wouldn't be totally correct, I'd probably be tempted to at least turn it into a two-tone set. Add a 7 series dial with a metal fingerwheel, and a G-1 handset, and it probably wouldn't look too bad. At least I think that would look better than it looks now.

McHeath

Who knows, you might just stumble across the right bezel at some flea market/junk store/ yard sale.

It's interesting how dark the original 500 colors are. 

Jester

After reading through this thread & looking at the auction, I remembered a lot of #7 dials I bought from qaz-trader a month or so ago.  I was mainly interested in the fingerwheel adapters, and thought some of fingerwheels might actually be open centered, but they weren't. :-\  At any rate, there was one with a brown bezel that caught my eye.  I looked at it carefully when it arrived, but the dial base is stamped 7D-3. ???  The date stamp is 8-55, though, & I have decided the bezel is a darker brown than my chocolate trimline.  If anyone on this forum winds up with this phone, send me your name & address & you can have the dial for the price of shipping.  As I mentioned above, I do not have the correct fingerwheel or numbercard hardware, but those should be more readily available than the dial.  See pics. below.
Stephen

benhutcherson

Jester,

All I can say is "Wow!"

Not only is it a million-to-one shot that you'd have the correct bezel, but your generosity is amazing, too.

Things like that are what make this forum great.

Dennis Markham

#9
Jester, that is amazing that you would have a dial bezel of the proper color and time-period to complete the mahogany phone.  Is the seller that you purchased it from the fellow that sells Northern stuff?  It may be Northern but I don't think there are any such markings.  I don't even know if Northern Electric produced Mahogany during that time.

As Ben stated a two-tone could be made from this phone, although looking at a booklet I have showing colors of the first two-tone phones, they only show Yellow, Red, Oxford Gray and Med. Blue two-tones with matching handsets.  Each of those had straight gray handset cords.  However the other colors had black G1 handsets.  Those were shown with gray or black handset cords.  But the booklet indicates there were 8 colors so perhaps they only showed 4 for illustration.

I sent the seller of the brown phone this question/comment.

It appears by looking at the photos that the dial bezel is a much later replacement, which of course would mean that this phone is not an original two-tone as put into service by the Bell System.  The dial looks like a #8 or #9.  The photo showing the network block would support that observation as the dial wires are newer, not cloth covered as they would have been on an original 7 series dial on an untouched phone from 1956.  Also an original untouched two-tone phone from that period would not have the hard center finger wheel.  The line cord also appears to be a replacement.  So my question is, can you confirm my observations?  Thank you.

Although his comment, "I have done nothing to this phone" is probably accurate I think the wording may be misleading because of the wording This FIFTY FOUR year old phone is untouched!

With all of that being said, it is worth the asking price and more in the current condition.  But in order to "...... finish off your 500 set collection..."  more modifications will have to be made as discussed here.

It is still a very nice find.  I just don't know why the seller isn't up front with the fact that the dial had been changed.  It just supports the fact that one must dot their "I's" and cross their "t's" before shelling out big bucks for what appears to be an original.  It's difficult to make a claim of being "untouched" when those phones were handled by so many hands over the past fifty-plus years.

I will report on the reply to my question when/if I get one.


Dennis Markham

I received a very friendly communication from the seller of the brown phone.  Here is his reply in part.

Hey Dennis....you have more knowledge on these than I do as I do not collect 500 sets. I just took a picture of the inside. I wouldn't dare take the dial off as its a working phone and I don't want to play with it. The finger wheel is not an open face, so you could be right about the dial, I do not know. The line cord is not brown, so it could be a replacement, again I do not know. I am a fellow member of the ATCA and TCI.   I wish I had better info for you on this. I am answering you with the best of my limited knowledge.....Doug

I removed one line that was more personal in nature as we have a mutual friend and he commented on that.

So this is a good opportunity to pick up a Mahogany brown set.  With Jester's dial bezel and a 7 series dial, one will be in business.  I happen to know a guy that has a couple spare #7 dials.  If one of you buys the phone and need one, let me know.




Jester

Dennis,
The seller I bought this dial from is the same one that sells the NE & other brand color change sets, but all seven of the dials I bought in this auction have "Western Electric" cast on the back of the aluminum dial housing, so I am assuming all related parts are WE as well.  The bezel was quite likely changed at some point-- I just don't know.  I can also tell you that I have bought a few items recently from jflowres, the seller of the subject of this thread, & have been very pleased with every transaction, although his descriptions can be fuzzy or misleading at times, as we have seen.  I don't consider this intentional-- you just can't know every detail of every model of every phone ever made by even one company, especially when that covers 100 years of history!  Even with a little misinformation, I still feel this seller has always treated me right.
Stephen

JorgeAmely

Mmm, so someone in this group has a time travel machine.  ;D

Jorge

Dennis Markham

Thank you for that reminder Jester.  One of my phone collector friends that lives near me has been friends with Mr. Rose for quite some time (jflowres) and has had nothing but good things to say about him.  I hope my comments didn't imply anything to the contrary. 

Sometimes we have to read between the lines on some of the eBay listings.  I'm certainly no expert and as you said, no one can know everything about all the different stuff out there.  I am confident on the W.E. 500's of this vintage but am no expert.  I have learned the hard way, purchasing many that weren't what I expected but gaining some knowledge of the variations in the process.

Your dial bezel sure sounds like a Western to me.  In fact I think the same company made the plastic bezels for both W.E. and A.E.....and perhaps others.  That was a very generous offer you made to furnish the part for the cost of shipping.

It is fun discussing what's out there, especially something that isn't so common, like the Mahogany 500.

Dennis Markham

Jester, you don't have another dial bezel in Oxford Gray do you??