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Gold princess phones

Started by princessphone, November 21, 2014, 02:27:12 PM

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Dave F

Quote from: princessphone on November 22, 2014, 09:11:30 PM
<snip>... Just curious. What are AUTOVON cards? John 
Hi John,

Well, since you asked... Here's an opportunity for you to learn about my favorite type of W.E. phones!  Card Dialers are 1960s-70s vintage phones incorporating an automatic dialer which uses coded plastic punch cards to store the phone numbers.  AUTOVON (AUTOmatic VOice Network) was a (now defunct) U.S. military phone system designed to be resistant to nuclear attack.  AUTOVON phones are distinguished by their unique 16-button touchtone dial.  The extra 4 red buttons were used for priority dialing during times of emergency.  All AUTOVON phones are rare, and a Card Dialer that is also an AUTOVON set is extremely rare (see my avatar photo at left).  Because the number of touchtone buttons is different from standard TT dials, the AUTOVON Card Dialer uses special non-typical cards.  As yet, nobody seems to have unearthed any of those special cards.

You can do Google Image searches for "western electric card dialer" and "autovon phone" and you will have a ton of info to keep you busy.  Also, Paul F's great website has plenty of nice pictures of many AUTOVON phones, Card Dialers, and their associated dialing cards.  By the time you finish looking in all those places, you will be an expert!

Dave


princessphone

Hello DaveF & paul-f, Thanks for all the home work, however it's my own fault 'cause I had to ask about Autovon.  Actually I'm glad I did because it sounds very interesting and intriguing. The name enigma comes to mind. Thanks for all the related sites.

Yesterday I bought my first gold princess on eBay (eBay said I won it but I still have to pay). It's gold and cream. Since I live close to Buffalo, NY, maybe I'll receive it by Spring. The pictures showed a bit of green on the shell, maybe from some copper undercoating. I'm anxious to see how she cleans up.

Also on eBay, a vender is selling a bunch of WE 505A plugs. One of them has a 12 prongs and looks similar to the 505A. I put a bid on it anyway. Just curious, what were they used for and were can one find a female jack for them?

John DeJonge   
 

SunriseEarth

Quote from: jsowers on November 21, 2014, 04:34:23 PM
Actually, both painting and plating/flashing were done, but I don't think the painted sets were meant for the general public. They may have been awards like the gold painted 500s we see.

The painted phones are gold all over. Some have brown cords like my example and some have gold cords, depending on what they had on hand. The paint tended to wear, especially on the handset, so these phones aren't always found in good condition. Some are darker gold like mine and some are lighter. I think it depended on the telco and the shop that created it.

Mine is very similar to the painted one earlier in the thread.  My phone was also from NYC (area code 212).
Tony Stokes

TCI Member; ATCA Member #4893

poplar1

Old gold (-12) was still available for new 500DM sets in the AT&T 1985 catalog.

ISTR that New York Telephone was one company that leased gold 500A (painted).
"C'est pas une restauration, c'est une rénovation."--François Martin.