I need help from you experts on this one

[Just4Phones]

I recently purchased a 554 and I think I paid way too much.  I thought it was an original soft plastic 6 hole gray phone from 1957 but when I took it apart the inside tells me a different story.  The inside of the phone as well as the inside of the receiver is more an oxford gray.  I believe the phone may have been painted at some time in its life.  My question is, is this factory painted by W.E.?   Did W.E. do this as a practice?  It looks too good and the faceplate and cord match too well for it to be a home paint job but I could be wrong.  Not sure if I have a treasure or junk.  If you look close you can see where the paint is starting to come off to reveal the oxford gray on the handset where it would rub.  I have attached some pics but sorry if they aren't too clear as my camera is old.  For your reference everything appears to be pretty date matched.  The network, ringer and dial are all dated 3-57.  The handset is dated in yellow paint 5-57 and the mouthpiece also in yellow paint is 4-57.  If it's not a factory paint job I may put it on EBAY and get some of my money back at least.  Thanks all for your thoughts and your time.

[Dan/Panther]

Just4phgones;
While I can't vouch for your set, WE did have the refurbing shops repaint the phones in a special armor plate paint called Polane. It usually matched so well that it's hard to tell if it's been painted or not. I have a turquoise 500 set that I had it on my shelf for some time after I bought it, before I realized it was a repaint.

D/P

[Jim Stettler]

I have a 1957 Green/ blue that appears to of been a factory paint job from the get-go. everything is MED blue painted green except for the dial which is green.
ISTR that all the dates match. It has a fat gray cord.

As far as painting sets go.
They would do it for special orders. I have also seen some B and C stock paint jobs from the early 70's, by the 80's it seemed to be a more standard practice to paint rather than polish.
To get back to the 50's set. I susupect mine was painted to either meet a "rush" order for a green, or it was changed to green since med blue was going away.

It wouldn't surprise me if your set was a change color set since oxford was on it's way out.

I keep my green as an oddity. Eventually someone will find a way to easily strip Polane from tenite, at that point I may strip it.

I paid $30 for mine thinking it was green. Since the price was low I keep it.
On the way to Lyon's I bought a black 500 that had a rose beige housing painted black. It was cheap.

You said you paid "way to much" for your set.
The oxford gray housing should have a decent resale, even painted

I sold a lt gray 554 for $70 and I could of sold 2 more at that price.

I would keepyourst as an oddity and a placeholder until you find a light gray 554.
Eventually someone will find an easy way to strip polane from soft sets, and then you could build an early or 2 tone 554. Or sell a nice Oxford gray housing.
JMO,
Jim

[McHeath]

I have a 554 made in 1959 that had every part painted.  It was a conglomeration of green, red, yellow, and beige parts, all had been painted beige and a matching dial face added.  I know that the phone spent the last decades in the old guy across the streets garage, and he got it from from Ma Bell in 82' so they clearly painted it, modularized it, and matched it all up. 

It was a great paint job, and it all matched very well, but then I morphed it into a replica of a 1955 model and changed all the parts to black.  There was wear on the handset and caps like you show on yours, but not much. 

I also have a 2554 that was installed in my folks place in 84', and it had all been painted black by Ma Bell.  They used green, beige and yellow phone parts to assemble it.  The original date on the chassis for it is 1977. 

These painted phones are the genuine article, and rather common, but they don't seem as collectable.  Though I'd never turn down a Med Blue 500 no matter if it was a Ma Bell paint job or not. 

[Jim Stettler]

Painted to match the plastic was typically B stock. Painted any other color than the plastic was typically c stock.
Did they use a "new" mod handset or a HW converted to mod?
Jim

My med blue is blue  painted green, tho I do have a black painted blue, I should dig it out for a look-see.

[McHeath]

The modular handset cord was new, not painted, but the case was notched and painted.  A #9 dial was also added at some point.

[Jim Stettler]

Sometimes they "punched" out the handset with a 1/2" hole and had a replacement mod plug piece.

Jim

[AE_Collector]

Here in British Columbia Canada, BC Telephone had a large "Shops" complex where amoungst other things, phones were sent through the complete rehab process. We painted phones there and they did very nice work. I have a few phones in my collection that are nearly impossible to identify as painted, obviously they are painted the same color as the original plastic.

In the final couple of years that our shops were operating, money saving measures caused the quality of the painted phones to diminish and they began changing the color of sets to recycle plastics that were discontinued colors. Most often these sets were painted basic colors such as black or beige. Taking a painted set apart would almost always reveal many different colored componenets rather than a complete inner gray phone such as you have. Caps would be different color from each other and different from the handset which was usually different color than the case.

Being that yours is ALL oxford gray, I think you are going to want to find a way to "out" the original Oxford Gray. You will still have a problem when it comes to the number ring for the dial though so you could opt for an early two tone variant.

Did WECo put out two tones with the handset being colored as well as the case but number plate and cord(s) in black? AE seems to have done this as well as complete black sets with JUST the case changed to color. It would staill have black number ring, cords and handset.

Terry 

[Jester]

Did WECo put out two tones with the handset being colored as well as the case but number plate and cord(s) in black? AE seems to have done this as well as complete black sets with JUST the case changed to color. It would staill have black number ring, cords and handset.

Terry  

Western Electric did make what some refer to as a "black dial" set, and oxford gray was one of the four colors to find this way.  The others were cherry red, pastel yellow & mediterranean blue.  Unlike the WE two tones, which also had a black bakelite handset and black cords, these sets used a matching color plastic handset & dark gray cords with the black 7D-3 dial.  Unfortunately, the 554 wall phone was never built with these variations.  It would look pretty sharp with the dark gray, though.  My avatar pic. is an example of "black dial" in red.  I'll post a larger version below.

[AE_Collector]

Yes I thought that I was seeing "IN Stereo" when I saw your picture AND your Avatar side by side.

I think maybe the first WECo Oxford Gray "Black Dial" 554 wall set might be "coming soon" to this thread.

Does sanding the polane off of a soft plastic housing make it impossible to get any sort of shine on the plastic afterwards?

Terry

[JorgeAmely]

Terry:

You can get the shine back. Some sanding required.

http://picasaweb.google.com/Amelyenator/1955RoseBeige#