Do you think its Brown Part III

[Doug Rose]

Here is my third try at a Mottled Brown North Galion. Came on with a low buy it now and really high shipping, but what the hell. Third time is the charm, right?....Doug

[HarrySmith]

It looks like it used to be brown, don't know what to call it now
Good Luck

[HarrySmith]

Looks like Mr. Helpful must have chimed in. It has been relisted with a higher BIN

http://cgi.ebay.com/Vintage-North-Electric-Bakelite-Telephone-Art-Deco-/120630331026?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item1c1620c692
( dead link 11-03-21 )

[Jim Stettler]

Lately I have been placing the min. bid as an auction locker if there are no bids. I still use a sniper program to win.

I was having problems with prices being raised before I bid. On 1 phone they raised the price higher than the snipe I had loaded. I only realized after the snipe program e-mailed to say my bid was to low.
Now I bid the min. and set my snipe.

I think we can probably add retired to Mr. Helpful's description. He seems to be a lot more active lately. I think he is getting more comfortable on the computer. He needs to visit some other sites besides ebay telephones.

There is a good chance he has joined, or will join the listservers, since he is retired and starting to get into computers.

Maybe we should set a bait auction for him. Once contact is made we could advise him of the issue. Maybe send him this thread and invite him to visit the forum.

I doubt if it occurs to him that he is screwing up a lot of collectors chances for nice phones.
Jim

[HarrySmith]

Great idea Bait auction, I like it

[Doug Rose]

Looks like Mr. Helpful must have chimed in. It has been relisted with a higher BIN

http://cgi.ebay.com/Vintage-North-Electric-Bakelite-Telephone-Art-Deco-/120630331026?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item1c1620c692

Different auction, same seller. Mine was a $40 BIN.....Doug

[Dennis Markham]

Some people have all day at work to surf the internet........

Looks brown to me Doug.  Good luck!

[HarrySmith]

http://cgi.ebay.com/Vintage-North-Electric-Bakelite-Telephone-Art-Deco-/120630331026?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item1c1620c692
[/quote]Different auction, same seller. Mine was a $40 BIN.....Doug
[/quote]

Wow, I never thought he would have 2 of the same phones

[Doug Rose]

Some people have all day at work to surf the internet........

Looks brown to me Doug.  Good luck!

Dennis....believe it or not, only time I popped on eBay all day. Waiting for a meeting, clicked on new items and there it was. Five minutes tops. Nice open face WE 6A will come off of it. I have a brass AE 24 somewhere! I couldn't believe my luck until I saw two more from the same seller. I really think it's brown and it should clean up great. Nothing cleans up like bakelite. I have already begged him to ship it safely with detailed instructions. Who got the BIN for $75?? There is still one available with damage on the back....Doug

[Dennis Markham]

Doug, my comment was in response to JimS theorizing that Mr. Friendly must be retired because of all the time he has on his hands to be on the internet.  But I know people that work all day and have access to the net so it could still be anyone.  Or maybe more than one....or someone that is retired..........

Looks like you got the best deal so far on the brown sets.

[Jim Stettler]

I just won this 554. It looks shiny and brown, They still made brown key phones after they stopped the 500's. Apparently they were also making some 554 types.
This is the most I ever paid for a 554.

#200525916280
Jim

[HarrySmith]

That is one pretty wall phone Congrats I don't think the price was that bad for a rare color

[jsowers]

I think you will find the brown 554 is a 1970s refurb. Note the modular notch on the housing in the auction pictures. It may be made up of lots of different age plastics and some could be painted. I notice one cap on the handset has a center hole and one doesn't. I have a brown 500 that has a combination of brown soft and hard plastic parts, with brown painted cords and housing that are awful and a 1970s dial face. My phone is some kind of bizarre refurb. Yours looks to be in nice condition, but it doesn't all date to 1960.

Brown soft plastic was discontinued in 1957 except for keysets. The color chip charts from 1958-59 I've seen bear that out and so does Paul's site. Brown came back sometime in the 1970s when brown Trimlines were popular.

[Jim Stettler]

I debated a lot on bidding on this. phone.
I am thinking  I have rread a refernce that 2 of the 554 variations were available in brown after the 500 was discontinued.
Of course I can't find the section that I was think of.

If it is real, then the price was cheap. If it isn't, then I have a pricey placeholder,.

If it turns out to be a placeholder, I can probably still get most of my money out of it from someoneelse who needs a placeholder.

We shall see,
Jim

[Dave F]

I just won this 554. It looks shiny and brown, They still made brown key phones after they stopped the 500's. Apparently they were also making some 554 types.
This is the most I ever paid for a 554.

#200525916280
Jim

Jim,

What does it say on the handset (G3)?  What part number is printed on the dial(7C-54)?

Dave