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One To Keep An Eye On - Western Electric 202

Started by Dennis Markham, December 11, 2008, 02:23:16 PM

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Dennis Markham

I saw this phone on eBay and thought I'd share it in case you may have missed seeing it. 

It appears to be a nice 202 (D1) with an E1 handset and a #4H dial.  It even has a ringer box (subset).

http://tinyurl.com/6e54xz ( dead link 05-13-21 )

I e-mailed the seller to verify the dial since his listing was silent on that issue.  My question and answer is posted on his listing.  Right now it's at a nice price but there are still four days left.

I have no affiliation with the seller and am not familiar with him/her.

It piqued my interest as well but I need to drag another one home like I need the proverbial hole in the head.  The handset and dial alone are worth $75 - $100 themselves, not to mention the ringer box, D1 body and cords.  Definitely worth watching.

Dennis

JimH

Wow, that one is a looker!  I'm sure they should get a good price for that one.
I think I'll point out any auctions I see (that I'm not interested in, of course)  that someone else in the group may be interested in.  Combing through ebay can take hours sometimes (of course that's half the fun) and many a time I've missed out of some gems.
Jim H.

Dennis Markham

#2
I pointed out that 202 because there seems to have been much discussion on the forum about phones of this vintage.  It's difficult to tell what everyone is particularly interested in--maybe a bit of everything.  There's a nice soft plastic red wall phone ending tonight too.....They used to go for $100 all day long but this one is currently only at $41 plus shipping.

http://tinyurl.com/5bed4x ( dead link 05-13-21 )

Note the open center finger wheel, the wide switch hook, the old dial card that later had the area code pasted on top of the celluloid center.  On the back you can see only one mounting hole--indication of older chassis.  Also visible in the photo is the older dial mechanism--by the finger stop opening and support.  The volume control lever appears to be straight too, without the bend of the later ones.  The seller calls it a model 554 BMP which I believe is the modular designation.  So I don't know where he got that.  The plastic could have been changed.  We can't see how many holes in the cap.  I didn't ask questions but those two are left unanswered.  And he/she doesn't say if there are any cracks.

Sargeguy

So much for $47!!! 

Still though, it is a buyers market.  A couple of nice-looking  complete 302s I was watching sold for around $15 and a couple of 634 subsets went for $43 and $44.  Even the 4H dials have been selling for $45-50.
Greg Sargeant
Providence, RI
TCI /ATCA #4409

Dennis Markham

That red wall phone was nice.  I was surprised that it went that high.  But look at the bid history.  A couple of "rookies" got into playing leap-frog.  Then the "0" feedback dropped out and "2" and "166" went at it.  Gotta give "2" credit for hanging in there.  That's a nice 1957 soft plastic set.

JimH

Thanks for pointing out the differences in the early sets.  I had no idea about the fingerstop/mounting holes, etc.  They seems to be rarer, and less expensive than the 500 (usually).  Strange that by 1957 WE seemed to be offering all of the 500 colors in the 554, and in 1957 they were still putting gray cords on the blue and green ones, but I've yet to see a 554 from that year (or earlier '56 models) that have gray cords.  The mahogany brown seemed to have brown cords from the start. 
Jim H.

mienaichizu

how I wish I could bid on those but I can't

too expensive to ship here in the Philippines