Two-Tone Colored WECo 500 Telephones

[andre_janew]

I have a sea foam green Kellogg ITT 500 phone made in 1966 and a black 1962 WE 500C.  They are now all black and all green now.  In their two tone form they were also Kellogg/Western Electric hybrids.   

[andre_janew]

Here's yet another two-tone phone.

[CanadianGuy]

Sorry if this doesn't belong here. I found an ad with a two-tone phone, but it is a Northern Electric. I don't know anything about what to look for, nor do I really want it, just want to see what you all have to say about it. Thanks

[WEBellSystemChristian]

It looks like an orange ITT or Stromberg-Carlson 500 shell and handset caps that were put on a Northern Electric black 500 chassis. Definitely not original, but a lot of phones are customized this way.

[andre_janew]

Here are a few pictures of a beige and black phone I picked up at a yard sale recently for $5.  Notice the 10-80 sticker on the bottom.  Yes, it is a modular phone.

[TelePlay]

What are the dates inside, the housing, ringer, dial, handset, elements, cord restraints, etc. That 10-80 looks like a refurb date sticker.

[WEBellSystemChristian]

It looks like it was a late-fifties to early sixties WE 500 chassis with the original dial, and then it was converted to modular (with a new housing, cords, and handset) in October, 1980.

[andre_janew]

I haven't checked the dates inside yet, but I think Christian could be right!

[andre_janew]

I have checked the dates inside.  The results can be found here:

www.classicrotaryphones.com/forum/index.php?topic=13775.0

[WEBellSystemChristian]

I just finished up a project (one of many) that I've been working on for the past few months now. It's a 1954 500 with a black dial and handset, and a soft plastic ivory housing that was covered in paint. The paint was factory-done, but it wasn't Polane, so it was removable with Easy Off.

Only problem is, the paint didn't come off as easily as I thought it would. It took me several months (on and off) to remove the paint! What I ended up with was a housing that had a leathery, snakeskin-looking finish to it; the EasyOff had actually carved tiny 'veins' all over the finish!!! Layers of plastic were also peeling off all over the place, it was a mess! After I got all of the paint off, I pretty much gave up on the project, and tossed the housing into my parts stash. Only recently, after reading up on this thread, I had the inspiration to revive the project.

It took me most of the weekend and a huge chunk of the week after school to sand the housing down with 180 grit sandpaper, followed by 400, 2000, and then compound. The results are better than I had hoped for!

Most of the parts dates on this are from around late 1953 to mid-'54. I'm not sure about the housing date, because it was covered in overspray, and when I tried removing the paint, the stamp must have come off with it! I know for a fact that it's soft plastic (strong smell, dull thud when I tap on it), I just don't know if it's from '54 or not. Nonetheless, I'm proud of myself for finally getting this done!

[Kenton K]

Looks good! What date is the shell?

KK

[WEBellSystemChristian]

Looks good! What date is the shell?

KK

Thanks!

I wish I knew. Paint covered the original date, and whenever I try to remove the paint, the stamp must come off with the paint. For now, I'm just assuming it's an original '54, although I have no evidence behind that.

[WEBellSystemChristian]

Here's what it looked like after EasyOff. You can see some flaking plastic on the rear of the cradle.

[poplar1]

Here's one 500DR-53 that left the factory -- or at least the distributing house -- as a true red two-tone.
The color code -53A is marked on the base!

Is it possible that in 1953, the only "color" 500s were these two-tone ivory (-50A), green (-51A), gray (-52A) and red (-53A)?

http://www.ebay.com/itm/VINTAGE-TWO-TONE-RED-BLACK-BELL-500-ROTARY-DIAL-DESK-PHONE-TELEPHONE-/231617849924

(Click on "see original listing" to see additional photos.) Sold for $588.88.

[TelePlay]

Sold for $588.88.

And another example of a high value phone listed at $15 in a10 day auction rising to only $37 in 9 days before dramatically rising to $600 in the last 10 seconds of the auction.