Western El. 302 Blue - Question?

[Doug Rose]

  I showed you mine. I want to see yours!

I haven't shown mine, but I'd STILL like to see yours!  Wait....OK, now I have.

Stephen....it is a beauty. I think the Forum needs to see a picture of those great color 302s you have!!! ....Doug

[JorgeAmely]

I second that Doug!

[Jester]

Well, I went and bought it (got it for $90).   Aside from the broken corner (and a few cracks radiating out from the broken corner), the phone is in nice shape.  The handset is solid blue (not painted - I took it apart and checked) and it has the clear dial, etc. and even has a cloth cord.  Anyway, I hope that I did OK with it since I'm more of an antique radio guy than a phone collector.  But, I never saw a blue phone like this before so that's why I bought it! 

If I'm not mistaken, I just saw pictures of your phone in the following auction.  I think it will do well in spite of the damage.

http://tinyurl.com/3hxyzd2

[Jim Stettler]

You got a good price, I am interested if you want to trade. I have lots of stuff. Pm If interested.
Jim
PS this needs to go to the find of the month board. It is a strong contender

[Doug Rose]

Well....Classicradios did quite well with his $90 investment. This sold for $511 which I though was fairly cheap for a very displayable Blue 302. It did have a chunk out of the back side, but sitting on your shelf this guy looks great to me. ....Doug

[Stephen Furley]

I really like that colour; I have a Statesman from a few decades later which is almost the same colour, or at least it was until it faded to greenish.  It still seems slightly odd to me to see a coloured 'phone of this vintage; almost all of the GPO ones were black until the 706 in 1959.  Is this thermoplastic, and if so is it painted or self-coloured?

[deedubya3800]

The blue 302 is molded in color, as are the ivory, pekin red, rose, and gray-green. Most black ones from after the war were molded in color as well. Some metal 302's (which were mostly made before the war) were painted other colors than black, but they're not common unless they were done by someone else, and usually much later.