Ivory 302 & 354 pics?

[Doug Rose]

Thermoplastic handsets are much lighter than their bakelite counterparts. The plungers should be clear and match the open face finger wheel.....Doug

[baldopeacock]

Seems like every new answer brings a new question. I read somewhere that the ivory handset for the 354 is molded of thermoplastic and is considerably lighter than its Bakelite counterpart. Does the 302 use the same handset?

And also, I can't seem to find a picture of an ivory 302 with the handset off the hook. Are the plungers made in ivory too, or are they clear too?

The pre-war ivory 302s that I've seen had ivory plungers.  Pictured here is ETS79's '41 Ivory. which is a matching dates phone (edit:  other than the cords, which are repro).   I borrowed the pics from his collection photos elsewhere on this forum.  The handset is ivory plastic but it's heavier than the usual thermoplastic color F1 handsets.



Here's his later Ivory 302 with clear plungers.   I think the dates in this one are early '50s.   The handset is plastic, but lighter in weight than the '41.

[JorgeAmely]

When is ETS going to show the long awaited for Med Blue 302?

[deedubya3800]

Simply amazing. I'm gonna have to run to the store across the street and see if they have a Nestlé White bar or something. These pictures are making me crave!

[baldopeacock]

When is ETS going to show the long awaited for Med Blue 302?

I think he has one side of the case left to finish, last I talked to him, and buffing out the handset.   Other than that it's finished.   Taking him awhile, ain't it?

[Kenny C]

i guess you cant rush perfection

[baldopeacock]

i guess you cant rush perfection

Well, I know he's worked some bizarre hours over the last few months and spends some time on the road doing Ku satellite uplink work.   And he's old, too.    If he's reading this, that should get a response.

[bingster]

The 302 uses the same ivory thermoplastic handset as the 354.  Many of the Imperial 202 sets use the handset, too (the rest used ivory painted bakelite).  The plungers should be clear on all color 302s, but it seems to me I've seen ivory plungers a couple times before.  I can't remember where, though.

[baldopeacock]

Bingster,

From what I have seen  -- and admittedly I am a rookie, I think the pre-war color 302s (at least ivory)  had body-color plungers.   ET's 1941 ivory has them.   I saw the phone when he got it, and it was pretty sad, definitely original and never restored, so there is little reason to think anyone would have gone to the trouble of fabricating ivory plungers for it.   They are not painted, they are ivory thermoplastic.  It was rough and dirty enough that the only reason he spent a lot of time to bring it back to life was because of the matching '41 dates.

There was another pre-war ivory 302 on eBay not too long ago that also had ivory plungers.    

There was some discussion of another pre-war color 302 on this forum not too long ago.   It wasn't ivory, and I can't remember if it was red or green.   The plungers were black on that phone, and discussion centered around whether they were correct or had been substituted.

At any rate, I do think there is some indication that the earliest color 302s -- at least some -- did not have clear plungers.    Other than the two ivory prewar 302s I've seen, and the other prewar color 302 recently on eBay, I have no documentation to make that case one way or another.   I am very curious about it.

Would there maybe be a BSP that could shed light?  

Was color 302 production suspended during WWII?   For that matter, was consumer phone production limited or stopped during the war?    Pre- and post-war dates seem to be the dividing line.

[baldopeacock]

hope the response isn't all your tires being cut 

Kenny,  truth be told I'm only two years younger than him.   It's just enough to give me a little room to rag him about it. 

[baldopeacock]

Previous discussion of the plunger subject was here:

http://www.classicrotaryphones.com/forum/index.php?topic=2950.0

This was the red 1940 302 that turned out to be the phone featured in a Mark Scola repair story.

The auction is still viewable and pictures are still present.

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=160451507822 ( dead link 04-13-21 )

[Doug Rose]

Here is an example of a Pre war Ivory 302 with match ivory plungers and a painted cover instead of the matching thermoplastic cover and a steel finger wheel with retainer ring. This is a wonderful phone....Doug


http://cgi.ebay.com/Vintage-BAKELITE-Art-Deco-Ivory-Rotoary-Telephone-/250701691254?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item3a5efc3976
( dead link 04-13-21 )

[deedubya3800]

I'm calling my rich uncle right now! On my BLACK 302, albeit, but calling just the same.

[Doug Rose]

$315 is the most I have ever seen for a Ivory 302 that was not NOS....Doug

[deedubya3800]

Somebody done lost they mind!

But looking at the bid history, it's apparent that at least four different people felt it was worth at least $250. And the thing that gets me about this auction is that the seller seems to have no idea this is a 302; they only call it a Bell System made by "Western Eletronics". WHO?!?! And they misspelled "rotary" two different ways and not correctly anywhere. With the vague description and misspelled key words, it seems this phone would only have been found by a select few, and those would either have been truly dedicated or purely accidental. I have to wonder how the seller feels right now.