Colonial Blue AE90!!!

[WEBellSystemChristian]

THANKS EVERYONE!

I think I might keep the line cord on the 90; it's probably original, and it will be an interesting display piece if it has a 4-prong attached.

My Dad pointed something out; $75 for 10 phones comes out to $7.50 each!!!

This should arrive by the beginning of next week, and because I have Spring Break all next week, I should have plenty of time to work on it!

[jsowers]

I think I might keep the line cord on the 90; it's probably original, and it will be an interesting display piece if it has a 4-prong attached.

I have a light beige 554 from 8-58 that came with a light beige mounting cord on it, also from 1958, and a 283B plug attached. It all looks original to me. I'm thinking that sometimes, if a house had been pre-wired with wall jacks, that a mounting cord was attached to a wall phone sometimes when that was the only solution. Maybe the jack was at baseboard level? But it sure is odd to see a phone that was screwed to the wall treated like a portable.

Yes, I'd keep it on there. I know I don't need to ask, but please post pictures after your phone haul arrives.

[WEBellSystemChristian]

I think I might keep the line cord on the 90; it's probably original, and it will be an interesting display piece if it has a 4-prong attached.

Yes, I'd keep it on there. I know I don't need to ask, but please post pictures after your phone haul arrives.

Nope, you didn't...

I plan on keeping the Garnet Red, Forget-Me-Not, Starlite, and, of course, the 90. I may sell the Pink 500, 2554 and 2500, and the PTT (?) to pay for the lot. I'll wait for the lot to arrive to make any concrete desicions.

[AE_Collector]

In my mind it is highly unlikely that a wall phone would have had a line cord. Definitely not from the factory but possibly installer provided in a certain installation application as described above. In the late 50's house may have been prewired to electrical boxes that in most cases would have had a terminal strip and a blank plate with a small center knock out for the line cord of the phone.

If a wall phone was chosen for a location right above a prewired location it is most likely that station wire woukd have been fished inside the wall from box to phone. If it was a wall that could not be fished most likely wiremold would have been used. We also had 4 conductor flat sticky back station wire. While to us collectors a matching colored line cord on a wall phone looks nice and is convenient, I don't feel that it would have been considered a proper install at all by most Telco's.

Christian, you dont want that Jade Green cord on your 90 to be original (beyond the fact that it is an original legitimate AE cord) as if it is, it is attached to a matching Jade Green 90. No matter what the outcome us, there are some very nice phones in that group and as your dad pointed out, a great price per phone even considering the shipping cost.

Terry

[Doug Rose]

I think I might keep the line cord on the 90; it's probably original, and it will be an interesting display piece if it has a 4-prong attached.

Yes, I'd keep it on there. I know I don't need to ask, but please post pictures after your phone haul arrives.

Nope, you didn't...

I plan on keeping the Garnet Red, Forget-Me-Not, Starlite, and, of course, the 90. I may sell the Pink 500, 2554 and 2500, and the PTT (?) to pay for the lot. I'll wait for the lot to arrive to make any concrete desicions.

Christian....that's been my theory in collecting telephones for over 35 years. Buy smart, keep what you really must have and sell the rest. You are starting much younger than I did. I now have a room full of telephones and telephone related items that I bought from the profits. Free Phone Room!! This is great for me now and a wonderful investment for my Grandchildren when I am no longer here....Doug

[WEBellSystemChristian]

I have a theory regarding some of the questionable aspects of this set that compare to my Colonial Blue type 80...

Although most collectors seem to agree that Colonial Blue was MD in '57, both this 90 and my 80 are dated 1959, with a base color code of '12', which is Jade Green/Avocado Green. It also looks like they both have the later, full-color (not painted) cords, which I don't think I've seen before on Colonial Blues.

The 90 is coming from Ventura, California, which isn't far from LA. My 80 came from a town not far from Sacramento. Maybe they came from the same GTE customer in California? Maybe it's coincidence?

[WEBellSystemChristian]

Lot has been marked as shipped.

Chances are it will be here next week, and since I have Spring Break starting this Friday all through next week, I will have PLENTY of time to post internal pictures, dates (not many in an AE ), before and after shots, etc.

[WEBellSystemChristian]

The lot came today!!

Good News:

-Nothing is broken. The seller packed everything very well!!

-The 90 matches my 80's color.

-The paint on the hook looks like it's in great shape. There are also no cracks or chips, and restoration should be easy.

Bad News:

-The 'Jade Green' line cord is really a modern piece of greenish-blue wall cord.

-The handset cord has a break, and was fixed with a piece of shrink wrap.

Unsure News:

-Compared to the grainy pictures of Gene Doom's Blue 90, the hook on this looks almost a little greener and slightly lighter in color.

-The inside of the handset caps look a little Green, but smoke fading could explain it.


The pictures I took of it next to my 80 were taken in my living room, which is covered in wood panels reflecting sunlight, making the room look a lot greener than usual, especially in the pictures. The housing of my 80 was wetsanded with 1000 grit IIRC, and it looks quite a bit bluer than the 90, so nicotine affected both in some way.

If this were Jade Green, it would prove that both phones are Jade Green.

On the other hand, if I took these pictures in a dark room with a camera flash (like Mr. Doom did; cool name BTW), it would probably look a lot Bluer. I think I'll wait until night so I can do that!

[WEBellSystemChristian]

I think I finally have proof!

I took a picture in the closet, with no other light source except for my smartphone's flash. I took a picture with my 80 next to my 90. See the results for yourself.

[Pourme]

Nice find!...Matching set...

[AE_Collector]

In the post that has three pictures, the second picture, the one of the side of the 90 including the hook, tgat definitely looks jade green especially when comparing to Gene's C Blue 90 in the 3rd picture.

The 80 that you sanded does look slightly more blue than the 90 (to me). The picture taken with the flash in the dark looks very odd coloring but that is likely to be expected with just the light from a flash on a smart phone I would think. The more natural light the better I would expect.

I am not convinced that these are Colonial Blue unfortunately though there have been some pictures that were somewhat convincing that they could be blue. Usually it isn't this difficult! One look and they are blue or they are green.

Terry

[WEBellSystemChristian]

In the post that has three pictures, the second picture, the one of the side of the 90 including the hook, tgat definitely looks jade green especially when comparing to Gene's C Blue 90 in the 3rd picture.

The 80 that you sanded does look slightly more blue than the 90 (to me). The picture taken with the flash in the dark looks very odd coloring but that is likely to be expected with just the light from a flash on a smart phone I would think. The more natural light the better I would expect.

I am not convinced that these are Colonial Blue unfortunately though there have been some pictures that were somewhat convincing that they could be blue. Usually it isn't this difficult! One look and they are blue or they are green.

Terry

Yeah, who am I kidding, it has to be Jade Green...


Still, not a bad price for an early one! This should clean up very nicely, and should look really nice side-by-side with it's desk twin (what I also thought was Blue).

What I don't understand is why AE changed '12' from a Blue-Green to an intense Green. Real Jade looks much more like the later Green that was used.

Does this still qualify as a find? For $7.50 and considering that I don't see too many of these, I think I still got a pretty good deal!

[AE_Collector]

Still a great deal I would say. How is the Garnet Red 80? It looked pretty good as well. Any 90 with a painted hook is OLD! And that hook looked like new, usually they are chipped up. Should all be soft plastic as well.

I will send you the number card ring you need to finish off the 80...once I find you one that is.

Still a nice old AE 90 so yes you should Put it in the Find of the Month.

Terry

[WEBellSystemChristian]

Still a great deal I would say. How is the Garnet Red 80? It looked pretty good as well. Any 90 with a painted hook is OLD! And that hook looked like new, usually they are chipped up. Should all be soft plastic as well.

I will send you the number card ring you need to finish off the 80...once I find you one that is.

Still a nice old AE 90 so yes you should Put it in the Find of the Month.

Terry

The Garnet Red is from 1970, but seems all original. All it looks like it needs is some wetsanding.

The 90 is actually only from March 1959, about 7 months older than my 80. I always thought those hooks were only made around 1957 or so.

I'll get it posted to FOtM when I'm finished polishing it!

[unbeldi]

I think I finally have proof!

I took a picture in the closet, with no other light source except for my smartphone's flash. I took a picture with my 80 next to my 90. See the results for yourself.

Using a flash only is about the worst you can do, because the light is so intense that color correction is very hard to perform on the image.

Take both telephones outside under open sky without clouds and best without direct sun, and put a neutral gray not glossy object, best a background, into the same exposure.

So far, the most convincing pics I see, are green.
Cell phone LED flash light has a much higher color temperature than natural day light, as high as 7000 K, and is rich in blue, requiring color correction.