Two Tone AE80

[allnumbedup]

I won this AE80 on ebay in a lot of nine phones.  The lot also had a pink princess I thought I could tune up and re-sell to buffer my investment if this AE turned out to be a parts phone, but turns out my daughter wants it and it has a crack in its ABS shell making it a more major project phone for me anyway. I think though this AE looks to be an original and in great shape too. I know there is an impressive thread on two tone western electrics from the same period and others on AE 'code breaking' and I think this phone is good fodder for both.  I do not know what the AE color on the soft plastic case is called but it is a putty grey. The markings all point to an early model: chicago and lone logo on hook.  The dial is an older two part dial with a bezel ring around the dial. Interestingly the bezel is marked EMco not AE and the AE dial is black metal and marked 875A and HU 8 (while the base is HU 9).  The hook plungers are silver and the cradle lift piece is black. The receiver looks NOS inside.  The black straight cord and the line cord both are tagged and the shell has a paper schematic like earlier model phones.  I  wish I could determine the date and also wonder if the four prong plug is AE or aftermarket because I usually convert to modular. I am putting this one on the assembly line for restoration and will post when done.   

[LarryInMichigan]

That is certainly an early AE80 and probably quite rare.  After a good cleaning and some bleaching of the shell, the phone should look great.  I would use chlorine bleach and water for bleaching.  We look forward to pictures of the finished product.  This will make a good FOTM contest entry.

Larry

[Jack Ryan]

It will look good cleaned up but the case is a replacement. The code on the bottom says it should be black.

The code matches the phone, except for the case.

It is an early example, the Type 51A dials were not used for long.

Regards
Jack

[allnumbedup]

I see that now. I have a full color jade AE80 dated 4-59-2 with code 82212 CXX (koiled kord,metro dial and no ringer) that follows the 1957 ordering guide on TCI below--I thought a code for color was not used here. So this one must have had that paper insert moved from the old black case when a gray one was put on. Do two tones have colored or black finger hold cover pieces? What are the Hu-8 and HU-9 codes.? thanks for the quick responses.

https://www.telephonecollectors.info/index.php/browse/document-repository/catalogs-manuals/automatic-electric-2/ae-catalogs/404-aeco-1957-catalogue/file

[paul-f]

The link above points to a 1957 AE Buyer's Guide with 2-tone ordering info on page 9.

It's generally preferable to post a search link than an absolute link to a file in the Library. Absolute links will change the next time the Library is reorganized, so the posted link will become dead.
https://www.telephonecollectors.info/index.php/search?q=ae+1957+guide

There's also discussion here:

http://www.classicrotaryphones.com/forum/index.php?topic=2284.0
http://www.classicrotaryphones.com/forum/index.php?topic=20083.0

Also, like Western Electric 500s, 2-tone AE80s could be "officially" created in the field by swapping the housings.

http://https://www.telephonecollectors.info/index.php/search?q=ae+2-tone

[Jack Ryan]

The link above points to a 1957 AE Buyer's Guide with 2-tone ordering info on page 9.

I must be blind Paul, I don't see the two-tone ordering information.

Jack

[paul-f]

I must be blind Paul, I don't see the two-tone ordering information.

Should look like this on the left side of page 9...

[Jack Ryan]

Should look like this on the left side of page 9...

Full colour, N82 and two tone, N82.

Is what got me - the other part was not in the catalogur I was looking at.

Thanks

Jack