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I Just Won This - Moss Green 500 - New Pictures

Started by LarryInMichigan, November 16, 2009, 09:59:03 PM

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LarryInMichigan

Nobody had bid on this http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=300365536446, so I couldn't resist.  The shipping charge is high, but the purchase price wasn't bad.  I have always liked green anyway.  Is this called "Moss Green"?  I think that it should look nice after plenty of polishing.

Larry

Craig T

Nice win Larry, looks like Moss Green to me.  :)

Bill Cahill

Very nice phone!  ;D Congrats!
Bill Cahill

"My friends used to keep saying I had batts in my belfry. No. I'm just hearing bells....."

McHeath

Yep it's moss green, which is a very attractive color once cleaned up.  This phone should look real pretty once you give it some TLC.


Phonesrfun

Good job of bidding.  Nice, older open faced dial center.

This will look nice all cleaned up!

-Bill
-Bill G

bellsystemproperty

You're kind of like me since you get the Charlie Brown Christmas tree phones too. I sometimes try to get the neglected phones so that they can live in a new good home that doesn't neglect them were they'll be happy. Yes, the above statement sounds obsessive and unhealthy (personifying inhuman things), but phones need love too.  ;D

foots

That moss green does indeed look wonderful when shiny. I picked up a mid '60s one in that color a while back and its in amazingly good condition and doing duty in the living room. Strangely enough, my moss green 500 originally came from a house on Moss St. in Lafayette.
"Ain't Worryin' 'Bout Nothin"

LarryInMichigan

I can't afford to pay $100+ for a phone that already looks beautiful, so I take a chance on one which looks awful but with potential.  My North 541 (http://www.classicrotaryphones.com/forum/index.php?topic=1752.0) and my SC 1543s all looked somewhat pathetic in their listing photos, but they look happy now.  My house was the same way.  The previous owners (absentee landlords) rented it to irresponsible tenants who kept it filthy, and nothing was ever repaired, so I bought it for cheap and did alot of cleaning, painting, and repairs. 

Larry

LarryInMichigan

The moss green 500 arrived today.  The seller sent me a message shortly after the auction apologizing that she was away on a business trip and coldn't ship it right away.  I mentioned to her that it would faster and cheaper to ship it in a medium flat-rate box, and she gave me a refund for the difference between the original shipping charge and the flat rate charge, sent it in a flat-rate box, and thanked me for informing her of the option (She also liked the idea of getting the box for free).

The phone was quite dirty and had a number of paint splatters on it.  I used 3M "Safest Stripper" to remove the paint from the handset and apparently damaged the surface of the plastic.  There are now white spots in the green plastic which will need to be sanded out.  I can only wonder what would have happened if I had used a 'dangerous' stripper instead.

The base, network, and dial are all dated 8/60.  The ringer shows 2/60, and the shell, handset, etc. show various years between 65 and 68.  The phone arrived with a new gray line cord with a modular connector.  Interestingly, the AE50 which I bough yesterday (mentioned in another post), had a moss green straight cord connecting to the handset.  I couldn't imagine why a black AE50 would have a moss green WE straight cord for the handset, but now I know.  The cord is exactly the same color as the handset cord on my new moss green phone, so it has found itself a new home.

Once I manage to undo the damage and polish the phone, I plan to post pictures of it here.


Larry

Greg G.

Quote from: LarryInMichigan on November 17, 2009, 06:34:47 AM
I can't afford to pay $100+ for a phone that already looks beautiful, so I take a chance on one which looks awful but with potential.

Larry

I'm with you on that.  I look for the bargains and steals, so long as they're complete and it's mostly just cleaning and minor scratches, scuffs, nicks, and maybe a line cord.  Most I've splurged on one phone was $85 for the 202 with the wooden crank subset, not including the dial and subset I got for it later.  Second most expensive phone was $30 for my NEC, the rest are all in the $20 and under range, give or take a couple bucks.
The idea that a four-year degree is the only path to worthwhile knowledge is insane.
- Mike Row
e

jsowers

Quote from: LarryInMichigan on November 25, 2009, 06:15:56 PM
The phone was quite dirty and had a number of paint splatters on it.  I used 3M "Safest Stripper" to remove the paint from the handset and apparently damaged the surface of the plastic.  There are now white spots in the green plastic which will need to be sanded out.  I can only wonder what would have happened if I had used a 'dangerous' stripper instead.

Larry, that's a shame about the damage. Do work on it and please post some pictures.

What I use for getting paint spots off unpainted hard plastic is denatured alcohol. It doesn't harm hard plastic at all and seems to dissolve most paints. Sometimes you need to apply it more than once. It also shines up gunky handset and line cords and gets the paint off them too. Hard plastic, FYI, was used in WE color phones from mid-1959 until they stopped making them. Black phones seemed to change to hard plastic sometime around 1965.

Be sure you never apply denatured alcohol to a painted phone or you'll take the paint off. Also denatured alcohol will melt soft plastic (1953 to mid-1959). To get paint spots off soft plastic I use DuPont white polishing compound.

If you're ever in doubt, always test the chemical on the inside of the phone to be sure. And some phones will have mixed hard and soft plastic pieces, so look at the dates if in doubt, or tap with a fingernail. The earlier soft plastic makes a duller sound than hard plastic.

Good luck with your moss green phone. One of my first phones ever was a moss green 500 and I still use it as the "connected" phone in my living room.
Jonathan

LarryInMichigan

Brinybay,

You seem to be really good at finding deals. $85 for the 202 with subset sounds really good to me.


Jonathan,

Thank you for the advice.  I should have thought of using denatured alcohol.  I have a can of it here.  At any rate, I think that I managed to sand out the spots that I made in the handset, but the base shell is full of cloudy white spots (without any help from me).  I tried to sand them out, but they appear to be too deep.  I guess that I'll have to live with them.  The consolation is that I have a genuine moss green cord to go with it.

I hope to have the polishing done sometime this week, and to post pictures after that.


Larry

Greg G.

Quote from: LarryInMichigan on November 28, 2009, 06:55:36 PM
Brinybay,

You seem to be really good at finding deals. $85 for the 202 with subset sounds really good to me.

Larry

It took almost daily (sometimes several times a day) scanning of Craigslist using various search terms and also different areas.  My NEC was a strange one.  I can't remember exactly how, but it didn't show up using my more common search terms in the areas I normally search. 
The idea that a four-year degree is the only path to worthwhile knowledge is insane.
- Mike Row
e

LarryInMichigan

#13
Here are some pictures from after the cleaning and polishing.  You can see white spots all around the bottom.  They would not come out with sanding.  The phone does work well.

Larry





McHeath

Too bad about those spots, they must be in pretty deep.  You cleaned it up quite nice and moss green is a very pleasing color when it's shiny.  Good work.