Various 302 Items - Cover flaw?; blank dial plate?; & a bonus

[easytiger]

I dug out my long-buried 302 stash, and thought I'd run a few things by the experts from some thoughts.  Photography Disclaimer:   Well...they're not good.  

#1.  On the back of the cover of one of them, there's an unusual raised "dot" - hopefully you can see it in the photo.  It seems perfectly-formed, so it doesn't seem like a "flaw" from the cover mold.  The cover is stamped H1 (I think? - the orange mark has some clarity issues...could be an "M" if they exist?).  Thoughts on the dot?  Intentional?  Meaningful?  Flaw?

#2.  On another one, I have an alphanumeric dial plate, with only a 0 - no Z, no Operator - just a 0.  It also has no other numbering or dates.  See photo.  The cover on this one is marked AB1.  I saw another post here with some great information on dial plates, and a photo of another one just like this...but with no definitive conclusion.  I also read that AB1's may be indicative of production for an independent TELCO (although, the handset is F1 and all other components look standard).  Any thoughts on the dial plate?  Just a non-WE/independent, "who knows" kinda thing?

#3 & 4.  No question - just a great metal cover, blank dial charmer I found in the pile that I forgot I had.

[LarryInMichigan]

I saw somewhere recently that at least some of the Canadian phones left off "Operator" from the number plate to avoid having to show both English and French.  Is this a NE 302?

Larry

[easytiger]

The F1 says Western, and I don't see anything else under the covers indicating Northern

[easytiger]

Update on #2:  Ever curious about the zero-only on this dial plate, I decided to pursue Larry's NE 302 question a step further, thinking the best indicator might be the back of the dial itself.  No luck, after getting it all the way out to take a look, under the dust was...Western Electric.  I know that doesn't prove anything - just thought if it said Northern, I could stop wondering.

Thanks for the clue, Larry - I'll have to keep tracking it...

[1954NE500]

That's a hotal card that's on this no-dial/manual 302 with the "Room 341" indication indicating this 302 was used in a hotel at some point. Picking up the receiver would get you the main switchboard operator at the hotel this 302 was used at.
Now, for the "0-only" dial face here, these were pretty common on Canadian NE302s/NE354s in the early to mid 1960's as 300-series phones lingered in general use on the Bell Canada network until the early to mid-1970's even in some rural parts of Ontario and Quebec-especially Northern Ontario as my grandmother's first phone was yes, a 302 installed in 1961 in Kirkland Lake, Ontario which is a good 7 hours north of Toronto. Also, in one of my moim's nursiing school yearbooks ftom 1967 or 1969, there's a picture of a younger kid in the hospital using, you guessed it, an NE302 in 1966 or 1968 at St. Jospeh's General Hospital here in North Bay.
This is in addition to the 1968 NE500 that I have with a Steel Fingerwheel, yes, a steel, black fingerwheel from 1968. It's marked C/D NE 500 68 on the bottom and was used in Toronto. Northern Electric was also the last phone maker to stop making wooden crank phones as well in the 1960's.

[easytiger]

Thanks, 1954NE500 – yeah, the metal no-dial came from the old Peery Hotel in Salt Lake City – Mountain Bell territory.

Thanks for the info on NE302's – very interesting.  Larry's thought regarding the lone zero on the dial plate on NE302's seems reasonable – it's just curious the phone itself seems to be WE302.  If it's true that it was a standard/common plate on NE's, it's probably just a case of somebody somewhere swapping it out or something.

Quite by accident, I have a good variety of dial plates on a modest 302 stash – rural, metro, Z-operator, operator, etc.  –'just never seen one with a lone 0 – and no other identifiers to boot!

Now, if there was just someone with some clues as well about "the dot" on the first one <wink, wink>.

I'm sorry, I get obsessed about small details sometimes...or maybe I was a 302 in a previous life...

[Kenny C]

go here they belive it too be after market stuff

http://www.classicrotaryphones.com/forum/index.php?topic=641.15

[1954NE500]

You're very welcome on the info on NE302s as I have gathered this information over many years of research.
Wonder if the old Peery Hotel still exists in Salt Lake City as you don't see many older hotels in this early 20th century type of architecture, about 1900-1920 that much today and these older hotels are in many ways a lot better than the cookie-cutter hotels you see today in many cities and towns along today's interstate highways. There's a senior's residence here in North Bay, built in 1928 which was The Empire Hotel which was a really nice, upper class hotel with ornate plaster work on the main floor and dining room. Thankfully, all that has been preserved when it became The Empire Living Center and is now a really nice, upper class seniors residence right in downtown, North Bay. The Peery Hotel in Salt Lake City was most likely built between 1900 to 1915, just before WWI. Hopefully, the old Peery Hotel was saved.

[LarryInMichigan]

Check out http://www.peeryhotel.com/.

[easytiger]

Right on...the Peery is definitely still standing.  In continuous operation since it opened in 1910.

[Kenny C]

I know what the lump on the case is. Someone used a screw that was a little too long and went into the plastic and made the small bubble.

[LarryInMichigan]

I believe that Kenny is correct.  There is a screw just below that spot.

Larry

[Doug Rose]

I know what the lump on the case is. Someone used a screw that was a little too long and went into the plastic and made the small bubble.

Look at you my man! Great call and absolutely correct. You are really getting to be quite knowledgeable on this stuff. I am impressed. ...Doug

[Kenny C]

Thank you 

[ESalter]

I have to agree, I didn't think of it, but when you said it Kenny, I knew that's exactly right.  That was a really sharp call.  ---Eric