Mushroom phone question

[Dan]

I recently got a pink WE500 P/U "mushroom" phone without the light cover. Does anyone know of anyone who makes this part? Thanks. I'll clean her up and post pictures later, thanks

[Dennis Markham]

I recently bought one from a member of the ATCA that makes them.  He has them in white and black.  You'll have to paint it.  Let me find his name and e-mail address.  I think it was $35 plus shipping.

[Dennis Markham]

Dan,

The guy that makes the repro caps is John LaRose.  I will send you a P/M.  He may not want his e-mail address posted on the World Wide Web.

Dennis

[JorgeAmely]

Dan:

Was that the pink for $99? That was an excellent price.

[Dan]

Yes, It is absolutely filthy, but with Dan/P's  cord dyeing method, I should get a matching cord (all the pink's are faded, huh!) Hooked up a transformer and the original light shined up. Nice original 3/60 with all matching parts. It had a hidden dial card underneath -- YEllowstone 8 -2676. I wonder where that is from? These things are really neat. I guess the princess killed the light up 500's, but I don't understand why.

Thanks for the  PM Dennis. I'll get in touch with that gentleman.

[Dan]

I really wanted to bring up this topic. It seems all of the mushroom phones I have ever seen, whether they have been @ shows or ebay, seem to date from 1958 to about 1960. Do any of you guys have an older one or what dates do you have and what s your color?

I'll start

3-60  WE 500 Model P/U,  Colour --Pink

[bingster]

1-57 in black for me.  It's a plain U rather than a P/U.

[Dan]

Does your "U" work like a 'P/U", that is you can see the light stronger off hook, but have the option of a dim night light with the knob that you twist?

[bingster]

Exactly.  From what I understand the P500 had no switch, and the light only went on when the handset was lifted.  The U500 had the key that turned the light on at half-bright while on hook, and full bright when off hook (like a Princess).  Then at some point they combined the two separate models into the P/U which worked like the U.

[JorgeAmely]

October 1958.

[bingster]

Well heck, if we're gonna post pictures... 

I need to send mine to be "Jorge-ized."  That's a sweet, sweet red one, btw.

[JorgeAmely]

Hi Bingster:

That is one nice looking and elegant phone. What I like about yours a lot is the fact that it has leather feet. I have mine on top of my desk, but sometimes it moves a bit when dialing out. Mine has the triangular plastic feet.

I once bought a product from Walmart to bring back the original, dark brown color of leather. It is no a pasty product, but liquid, and I used a Q tip to apply it.

[JimH]

I have a pink one that is 3/58 and a black one that is 12/59.

[Dennis Markham]

Jorge & Bingster, great looking "mushroom" phones.

I have two, both black.  One is soft plastic dated 6/1958 with leather foot pads.  It is marked 500U.  The other is dated 8/1959 with rubber pads and is hard plastic.  It is marked 500 P/U.

This photo has been posted before.  Mark Stevens did a report on the mushroom phone on the blog page.  But I like it so I'll show it again.  I got the idea from a Bell Ad that was similar.

I would love to have one in Aqua, Red, Pink, etc.  An Oxford Gray mushroom phone sold for over $800 last year on eBay.

[jsowers]

I thought I would add to the list of mushroom phones. Those are some great ones you've all shown so far and I really like Dennis' picture of the whirling dial. I remember that ad.

The 500P came along to replace the 500H, around 1955, and was sold alongside the 500U, which I think came along in late 1957 (has anyone seen an earlier 500U?). It lacks the dimmer switch of the 500U and the light only operates when the handset is lifted. I have two 500P models in soft plastic. The best one is moss green and pictured below. It belonged to a lady who worked for the phone company and got it as a retirement gift, according to her daughter who was selling the phone. I got this phone five years ago on eBay and haven't seen another one since. It arrived very brown and stained with, I assume, nicotine. I was able to bleach it back to green, but I didn't bleach the mushroom cap. I should go back and do that, but in person it's not as brown. I used around one part bleach to two parts water in a dishpan in the full sun and it takes at least a day, if not two. This was long before I ever heard of the peroxide treatment, which I haven't tried yet.

The first picture shows it after I cleaned it up. It's from 10-58 and has all the original parts. The second picture shows the dates. The third picture shows the insides before cleaning. The fourth picture shows the dial lit. It was taken before cleaning and doesn't come close to some of the others you've posted. But as far as rarity goes, this one is a pretty rare bird. I can also post some pictures of the aqua blue 500P I have in a later post, if anyone is interested.