This seems to be a somewhat rare 1945 metal 302 painted green, but painted by whom, an owner or a refurb shop?
It was listed at $9.99 plus $22 in shipping 6 days ago in a 10 day auction and so far 6 bidders have run the price up to $45 with 27 bids, many of them minimum increases.
http://www.ebay.com/itm/RARE-Vintage-1945-GREEN-Western-Electric-Bell-302-Telephone-aka-Lucy-Phone-WORKS-/131491602885
Seller described the listing as "Up for your consideration is a wonderful vintage Western Electric, Bell Systems 302 metal telephone. It is in VERY GOOD condition considering its age, showing what I would call less than normal wear having a few lite scuffs and little missing paint to the cradle where the handset rests. (see pics) The color is a RARE dark green what I would call either a nice hunter or dark military green with a nice contrasting brass dial and brown cloth cords and, it works great. This telephone is also nick named the "Lucy Phone" for being seen in the popular hit television show: I Love Lucy. It has also made cameos in other films as well. Take your time and use the ZOOM feature on the pictures to get a better idea of condition and feel free to email any questions you might have prior to bidding. Don't let this pass you by for you don't see them come up for auctions in the rare green color, in this condition and working. A must have."
Seller doesn't seem to know what this phone really is but my question is about the paint. Was this a WE refurb job or a rattle can garage job? The bottom sticker is on top of black paint. Did WE paint metal shells?
Yes, WECo did paint metal shells until the 50s. However, green would have had to be a special customer order. But judging by the paint quality, it was an amateur. The contacts in the handset are sprayed. Someone removed the elements and forgot to fill the space with some cloth for protection.
After the war no color telephones were manufactured until available again in January 1949, and then the only painted varieties were the metallic hues, i.e. old brass (6), statuary bronze (7), oxidized silver (8 ), and dark gold (12). Ivory, green, red, blue, and old rose were plastic housings. Before the war, these were also painted, but plastic housings were available starting in 1940.
This is most likely an aftermarket paint job on a black phone.
The dial appears later too, it is a 6A with a dial plate of the 1960s, or even later, 6U.
The housing appears prewar though, judging by the tan dial adapter. The handset is from 1949. So the parts of the phone span 1939 to ca. 1970.
It's not likely that WE repair shop did this:
==Green overspray on the silver-plated transmitter contacts
==Brass-color finger wheel on a 302, probably from a Design Line (1975-up) 6U dial
==Non-WE cords
==Non-standard color
To me, the digits and letters don't look right - they look like they're Helvetica, which wasn't the font used in everything else I've seen...
Jim
Yeah, nothing seems right about this. First of all, the color is way off. Second, it has the same Long Distance card and brass fingerwheel that I see on reproduction ivory D1s.
Does anyone actually have a metal 392 with a factory coat of green on it? Metallic colors don't count, by the way! ::)
Quote from: compubit on April 25, 2015, 06:14:13 PM
To me, the digits and letters don't look right - they look like they're Helvetica, which wasn't the font used in everything else I've seen...
Jim
The look of the number plate on the dial is typical for 164A plates made in the 1960s and 70s.
Here is an NOS 1971 6U dial:
This came from the Chicago old telephone Co .I might have even assembled it
I thought so when I saw that fingerwheel & number card!
And the side of the dial is black, didn't they always use white sided dials with the color 302's
Scot
It's a nice shade of green, about the same as the dark green on two-tone green GPO 700 type telephones... :)
Well, it's up to $62 by way of 6 bidders placing 31 bids with just over 2 days to go.
Seems bidder 6***1 ( 1589 ) placed an extremely high bid because he remains the top bidder with his one an only bid placed 2 or so days ago. I just wonder what an experienced eBayer sees in that phone?
Sold for $122.00 plus shipping. Happy seller . . .
Hmm, I wonder if the buyer will be happy with his purchase?
I'd say the seller is really the happy one. I know I'd be happy to get $122 for one of my phones!
I think it would look great with a clear open face finger wheel. Paint job looks very professional to me. There are companies that charge double that for painted thermoplastic 302s, not in the WE paint colors..Doug