1954 Yellow Black Dial 500 Set

[WEBellSystemChristian]

I bought this from Robert's (Zaphod01) barn hoard lot. He told me that the plastics were dated 11-54, while the base was from 6-53. He also told me that the housing had a crack in the front right corner, but I told him it could be repaired. It didn't have a dial or cords, but I had a solution for both.

I knew that the early date on the plastics and lack of a dial or cords probably meant that it was a black dial set, and someone along the line probably thought the parts didn't belong on the phone, so they were removed.

I found a 1955 dial on a parts phone, and wetsanded the bezel, repainted the fingerwheel, and added a dial card retainer. I found a straight cord I made awhile ago (originally made into an Ivory cord) stripped the paint off, and painted it using my trusty Charcoal Gray vinyl paint. I fixed the crack (plus another one found on the back) using Acetone. I wetsanded and polished the plastics.

I've seen five Oxford Gray black dial 500s, six or seven Red black dial sets, and one Blue, but I haven't seen another Yellow yet. Has anyone else seen one?

[WEBellSystemChristian]

More:

[poplar1]

Perhaps Jonathan will have more info on the dates for black dials and neutral (gray) cords on "full-color" yellow 500s.
Yellow dial number plates have been reported as early as 5/55 and yellow cords as early as 5/56. Neutral cords as late as 3/56 on yellow 500s.

[jsowers]

Christian, that's a very rare phone you have there. It's hard to believe the Bell System called that a "full color" set, but in that day and time, 1954, half the colors they offered didn't have matching dial bezels yet and even fewer had matching cords. Two-tones, which this phone is not, came with black handsets, black cords and black dials. You could call this combo--yellow with gray cords and black dial, a THREE-tone, but they didn't, so I won't. It's something most of us have only seen in ads from 1954.

Your pictures are nice and clear, but flash has washed out some of your yellow on that phone. Yellow soft plastic is luminous and reflects a lot of light. Try some shots outdoors this weekend if you have time and if the weather cooperates. We can see in the "before" picture how yellow it is. But with flash it almost looks ivory.

So I have to ask---Christian are you as good a student at everything else as you are with old telephones? It may have something to do with how interested you are in the subject. You've paid lots of attention to the old advertising to know what to look for and you spotted that phone in the picture and knew what it was, while others passed it by. I'm no teacher, but I would give you an "A" for spotting this rare phone and putting it back to how it came originally.

As to Dave's post about date info, I think the dials started matching sometime early in 1955 because 1954 ads are the only ones where we see those black dials. The cords matched about a year later in spring of 1956 for most of the remaining colors.

[WEBellSystemChristian]

Christian, that's a very rare phone you have there. It's hard to believe the Bell System called that a "full color" set, but in that day and time, 1954, half the colors they offered didn't have matching dial bezels yet and even fewer had matching cords. Two-tones, which this phone is not, came with black handsets, black cords and black dials. You could call this combo--yellow with gray cords and black dial, a THREE-tone, but they didn't, so I won't. It's something most of us have only seen in ads from 1954.

Your pictures are nice and clear, but flash has washed out some of your yellow on that phone. Yellow soft plastic is luminous and reflects a lot of light. Try some shots outdoors this weekend if you have time and if the weather cooperates. We can see in the "before" picture how yellow it is. But with flash it almost looks ivory.

So I have to ask---Christian are you as good a student at everything else as you are with old telephones? It may have something to do with how interested you are in the subject. You've paid lots of attention to the old advertising to know what to look for and you spotted that phone in the picture and knew what it was, while others passed it by. I'm no teacher, but I would give you an "A" for spotting this rare phone and putting it back to how it came originally.

As to Dave's post about date info, I think the dials started matching sometime early in 1955 because 1954 ads are the only ones where we see those black dials. The cords matched about a year later in spring of 1956 for most of the remaining colors.

Actually, I took the pictures in my living room, where there are big windows behind me; that's the only light source in the pictures, I didn't use flash at all. It's sort of a hazy day today, so the color looks a little 'washed out' anywhere near a window. My iPad also doesn't pick up the color very well, so that's part of the problem.

I'm more of a B/C student in school. I'm not great, but I do try my hardest. I can't do very well in something I'm not interested in; I just can't remember the information. But when it comes to phones (especially 500s) and dates and timelines, I remember everything I read! I love the old Western Electric/Bell advertising brochures, like the one I got the picture from. I remembered how that phone looked in that brochure, so I tried to mimic it the best I could during restoration.

I also have a dates-matching 11-56 Yellow 500 (exactly 2 years younger) with all matching colors, including the dial and both cords. I should post a side-by-side comparison picture of those two later (once I find a way to display the Yellow color a little better)!

[unbeldi]

As to Dave's post about date info, I think the dials started matching sometime early in 1955 because 1954 ads are the only ones where we see those black dials. The cords matched about a year later in spring of 1956 for most of the remaining colors.

Early 1955 seems correct for availability of all color dials.
BSP C14.002 i1 of July 1955 shows them in color pictures.

[rotary63]

How did you make the straight cord? Did you use a line cord, or did you just paint a black straight cord? If you made it, what did you use for the reinforcement at the handset?

[WEBellSystemChristian]

How did you make the straight cord? Did you use a line cord, or did you just paint a black straight cord? If you made it, what did you use for the reinforcement at the handset?

I used a Black ITT or off-brand 4-conductor line cord, and I believe I used epoxy to hold the restraint in place. The restraint came from an ITT radio controller from the late '80s. My Dad has several laying around that are broken and damaged, so I removed the restraint from one. It isn't a perfect replica, as it's a little stubbier than the real ones.

I painted the cord in Duplicolor Vinyl Dye (really a paint) in Charcoal Gray.

[rotary63]

That's pretty ingenious. I have often wondered how to make a line cord into a handset cord, but the restraint was always a problem. I have several straight gray line cords, unfortunately no restraints that will do.

[andre_janew]

Didn't that phone originally have a black 95A dial blank on it when you got it?

[compubit]

I just got home from Lancaster and had a great time.

While there, I ran across a 58 yellow 500 and a (mostly) 59 (IIRC) yellow 554, both of which were not in good shape, but it did help me understand what a soft yellow looks like (vs. hard yellow...).

The coloring was very close to what your pictures look like (leaning toward a "translucent" yellow).

Came close to buying one or both, but decided not to - several other things I was targeting...

Jim

[WEBellSystemChristian]

Didn't that phone originally have a black 95A dial blank on it when you got it?

It looked like it did from the initial pictures, but it was probably an illusion of the 95C blank.

An interesting detail about 1954 500 sets is that manual sets had matching blanks, so if it had an original blank, it would have been Yellow. It really wouldn't have been much fun to own a full-color 500 built during the black dial age.

[zaphod01]

Wow! The yellow was a throw-in from the barn hoard. Glad it turned out so well! The seller also threw in a complete set of white plastic and enough parts to build a red.