Could this be a Med Blue?

[Doug Rose]

Went for $50. I was watching but too high for me to play with. I did contact seller, if you won it he will ship for $13.35 med Priority...Doug

[WEBellSystemChristian]

The dial face on this phone isn't necessarily replaced, most of the time the dial face just faded differently from the rest of the phone. In fact, it doesn't even look like Avocado Green, more like an Aqua-turned-green...

[poplar1]

The dial face on this phone isn't necessarily replaced, most of the time the dial face just faded differently from the rest of the phone. In fact, it doesn't even look like Avocado Green, more like an Aqua-turned-green...

I agree with you that aqua blue parts often fade to a greenish-blue color.

However this particular phone was originally Mediterranean blue; the handset and housing are med. blue underneath the aqua blue paint. In order to change the color of the phone, it was impractical to paint the med. blue number plate and "neutral" (dark gray) cords, so these were replaced with new aqua blue parts.

[WEBellSystemChristian]

Anybody seen this eBay listing?
http://www.ebay.com/itm/1956-WESTERN-ELECTRIC-Moss-Green-500-With-Gray-Cord-/271253761705?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item3f27fbeea9

Now, I might just be hyped up about this find, but this MIGHT be a med. blue, for many reasons:

1) I have never seen nor could find any early colored WE 500s with the same neutral gray cords.

2) I'm pretty sure at least the handset is painted over, because the letters look faint.

3) It's a 1956 phone, one of the years the med. was made.

I may sound totally wrong about this one, but I'm a little suspicious.

[LM Ericsson]

The handset is actually not painted, the letters are worn off, my soft plastic 500s handsets are like that. The soft plastic tends to wear more easily.

[poplar1]

Anybody seen this eBay listing?
http://www.ebay.com/itm/1956-WESTERN-ELECTRIC-Moss-Green-500-With-Gray-Cord-/271253761705?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item3f27fbeea9

Now, I might just be hyped up about this find, but this MIGHT be a med. blue, for many reasons:

1) I have never seen nor could find any early colored WE 500s with the same neutral gray cords.

2) I'm pretty sure at least the handset is painted over, because the letters look faint.

3) It's a 1956 phone, one of the years the med. was made.

I may sound totally wrong about this one, but I'm a little suspicious.

1) All the original full color sets---other than brown and ivory---originally had neutral cords
2) Look at the inside of the handle: you can see that it is the same green color as the rest of the handset and phone, and the date stamp is still there.
3) The 7C-51 indicates that the color of the dial (and thus the rest of the phone) was green:

-50 ivory
-51 green
-52 oxford gray
-53 red
-54 borwn
-55 rose beige
-56 yellow
-57 Mediterranean blue

The first four colors were introduced in 1953 and the remaining four colors the next year. Black dials and neutral cords  (other than on ivory and brown sets as noted) were used until all parts were available in matching colors.

[WEBellSystemChristian]

Ok, sorry if I sound like a total idiot, but I am new to this, and med. blue was the first thing that came to mind looking at that eBay listing.

[jsowers]

Black dials and neutral cords  (other than on ivory and brown sets as noted) were used until all parts were available in matching colors.

A small correction to the above:

Black dials were only used on dark gray, red, yellow and dark blue "full color" sets until early 1955.

Ivory, green, dark beige and brown used matching dials from the start. You're correct about the dark gray cords on all except ivory and brown. Dark blue never had matching cords.