WE Wall Phone 2 Piece to Handset Conversion 653BA per D157315

[SUnset2]

This phone just sold on Ebay.  I got outbid on it.  I am wondering how rare it is.  Perhaps I should have bid more, but it is not a very pretty telephone.  It looks like they converted a two piece 653 into a handset phone.  There looks like a 1947 refurb date stamped on the ringer.  Was this another attempt to re-use old equipment by updating it?

https://www.ebay.com/itm/255127593496

[Doug Rose]

Was this another attempt to re-use old equipment by updating it?

https://www.ebay.com/itm/255127593496

[/quote] Paul that would be my guess. Nice Phone, but in my opinion, the original is a work or art. A classic...Doug

[poplar1]

It is called a conversion. These were converted in the Western Electric Repair Shops in the Distributing Houses. Other conversions are the 5302 and the 151AL.

This one sold for $52.00 which is a fair price.

Was this another attempt to re-use old equipment by updating it?

https://www.ebay.com/itm/255127593496

Paul that would be my guess. Nice Phone, but in my opinion, the original is a work or art. A classic...Doug

[SUnset2]

It turns out that the seller had 2 of them.
I got  the second one.
https://www.ebay.com/itm/255143905423

Transmitter element dated 1-50
Receiver element dated 2-50
101-A coil dated 1-46 and R 250
Ringer dated 2-46 and R 250

So I am guessing that this was made in 1946 as a two-piece, and refurbished in 1950 and converted to handset.

[tubaman]

Very nice! Doesn't look like it has been messed with at all - just how I like them.
Original dial card is a nice bonus too.

[poplar1]

It turns out that the seller had 2 of them.
I got  the second one.
https://www.ebay.com/itm/255143905423

Transmitter element dated 1-50
Receiver element dated 2-50
101-A coil dated 1-46 and R 250
Ringer dated 2-46 and R 250

So I am guessing that this was made in 1946 as a two-piece, and refurbished in 1950 and converted to handset.

Not likely that it was originally manufactured in 1946:

1. There is no "Western Electric" stamped into the metal cover, indicating an earlier set.

2. There is no vermilion date stamp on the inside cover.

3.1946 is probably too recent for manufacture of a 653-type.

May have been converted from a 553A or 653A to a 653BA in 1946, then converted again, this time to a 653BA per D157315, in 1950.

[SUnset2]

Thank you Poplar1 for the background on this.  There are no other markings, though it is quite likely that it went through multiple conversions over the years.  They seemed to be willing to go through a lot of work to avoid throwing out an old telephone.  Though it took several years after WWII to get past the shortages, so they had to be resourceful.

[HowardPgh]

Its interesting that they used the weighted dial blank that was used in non-dial dial candlesticks.
The blank in one of mine was held in with a flat X shape metal piece.