Help needed to identify early Western Electric desk sets

[Adam]

The Telephone Story poster (published by AT&T) lists the B type as 1928 and the D type as 1930.

Assuming, because each President redecorates the oval office and brings in his own desk, that Presidents get a new phone on their new desk in the oval office at the beginning of their term, that coincides nicely with the dates of the presidencies, and the President getting the newest phone available at the start of their term:

Herbert Hoover (1929-1933) - B Type (1928)
Franklin D. Roosevelt (1933-1945) - D Type (1930)

According to the poster, that holds true for the next presidents as well:

Harry S Truman (1945-1953) - 302 (1937)
Dwight D. Eisenhower (1953-1961) - 500 (1949)

COOL!

[Dennis Markham]

Paul, unless I'm reading it wrong, the colors for the 500 sets on that poster contradicts the color dates on your web site.  It doesn't have white coming along until 1957 yet the poster says 1954.  A couple others don't match either.

[bingster]

...the phrase "Hand Telephone Sets" applies to the entire set

Absolutely right.  I knew I shouldn't have typed that from memory.  It's even the title of AT&T 4810 (12/27).

[paul-f]

Paul, unless I'm reading it wrong, the colors for the 500 sets on that poster contradicts the color dates on your web site.  It doesn't have white coming along until 1957 yet the poster says 1954.  A couple others don't match either.

As they say, "No one's perfect."  In this case, the fellow at the Archives that produced the poster goofed on the color list.   

Also, the dates seem a bit conservative -- probably when phones were available in volume.  Larry Wolff shows the B mounting patented in 1925 and available in 1926/27 abd the D mounting in 1928.

We need to check some dates in sets.

[paul-f]

From a quick sample of sets here:

  B: 4/29 - III 32

  D: I 31 - II 35

It's unlikely my small sample catches the earliest and latest dates. 

Interesting overlap.

[Greg G.]

Thanks to three pics I found here on this forum, my page about Presidential telephones on my website Manufacture Discontinued now includes pics of every analogue oval office desk phone from President Herbert Hoover, the first telephone in the oval office, through President George H.W. Bush.

http://www.manufacturediscontinued.com/exhibits/telephones/presidential-telephones-of-the-united-states.html

Thanks!

Very interesting website.  I wonder when the 50 millionth phone was actually manufactured?  They presented it two days before I was born.  Or for that matter, what became of it?

[Adam]

Very interesting website.

Thanks!  I update it a little at a time.  Hopefully more new exhibits coming soon.

I wonder when the 50 millionth phone was actually manufactured?  They presented it two days before I was born.  Or for that matter, what became of it?

I don't know what became of it, but I suspect it might have ended up at the Eisenhower Library in Abilene, KS, although a quick scan of their website didn't turn it up.  However, I know that both the Nixon and Regan oval office telephones are part of their libraries, I've seen Ronald Regan's Call Director in person at the Regan Library in Simi Valley, CA.