302's were plentiful today

[persido]

Yes there is a date on the shell Sargeguy, it's from 1946.

[Sargeguy]

That is pretty cool,5H dial?

[Doug Rose]

Yes there is a date on the shell Sargeguy, it's from 1946.

Persidio.....I have never seen a date on a metal shell. Very cool indeed. I had always heard of Metal phones from 1946 being made or short time, you have proved the rumor to be true. Do all dates match? Three concave CCCs? A picture or two would be great. The missing link, probably worth what you paid for all of them....Doug

[persido]

Thanks for the information everyone, this is great. Well if the phone is worth more because of the markings on the shell then I ruined that, I powder coated it, a lot of  paint got inside the shell and covered the markings. I have powder coated 12 302's, this has happened to several of them and others get very little paint on the inside. I know a lot of collectors disapprove of painting telephones for a number of reasons, I collect telephones to bring them back to their  glory, matching dates are really not important to me, it's how they look when I'm done restoring them.
I'm happy that I did powder coat it, I think it came out great, I love the way it shines, and I got the handset shining nicely using Wipe New. I have tried several methods to make dull handsets shine, I even bought a can of Glayzit, it worked good it put some life back into them, but a wipe down using Wipe New has given me the results I'm looking for.

[Doug Rose]

Love that dial card!!! You did a super job on the phone....looks great....Doug

[poplar1]

If the housing has the 3 C's inside each other, these would be molded in the metal  and would not disappear with paint. Look up near the switch hook on the end where the wires attach.

[WesternElectricBen]

Looks great,

I'm going to have to try out that wipe new stuff..

Ben