My interesting find

[bingster]

So I've had a particular D1/F1 202 for about 25 years.  In fact it was my only 202 until about two years ago.  It's always looked quite ratty, with the paint being chipped up revealing what I always assumed was primer.  Wellsir, today I started on a restoration, and took my two chippy D1 bases apart.  I was about to begin sanding the paint off the old base when I looked under the cradle and saw that the "primer" was really green.  Then a light bulb went on over my head.  I examined the base more closely--apparently more closely than I ever had before--to find that the color showing through the scrapes in the black wasn't all one color.  It's green in some places and brown in others.  All of which points to... Statuary Bronze.  Apparently, the phone was originally a statuary bronze phone that was refurbed into a standard black phone.

I scraped a large area of black from the back to look at the color underneath, and it's definitely two-tone, with green at the neck and around the cord hole.  So now instead of one project (an ivory 202), now I have two (carefully removing what's left of the black paint from a bronze base). What I'm going to do with it, I have no clue.  I don't think a black handset would look good on a bronze phone.  I also don't know the condition of what's under the rest of the black.  Hopefully, there won't be any major paint loss.  There's a bit on the cradle ears, but all in all, it's not bad.  And it's definitely a keeper.

As usual, my photos are crappy, and the colors are more apparent in person.

[BDM]

WOW, gotta agree. That's a bronze set, or was. You should bring it back to that. Wouldn't exactly be a fake, that's for sure. But, how would you, or what would you use to replicate the original bronze?

[bingster]

If you could perfectly match the bronze and the green, the application would probably not be too terribly difficult.  A solid base coat of bronze, and then thinned green paint applied with an airbrush should do the trick.  I think the most difficult part would be getting perfect matches for the two colors.  Especially since the bronze isn't metallic.  It's basically brown paint, I think. 

What surprised me a bit (besides the fact that it's a colored set) is the fact that the bronze underneath is very dull, with no shine whatsoever.  I'm guessing that before the black was applied, the original finish was etched to make the black adhere better.  Regardless, the black is coming off very easily, which explains why it was so chipped and scraped.

[Dan/Panther]

I'm totally lost here what exactly have you found ?
D/P

[Dennis Markham]

That's a nice find Bingster.  It would be nice if you could restore that base. Sounds like a big job.

[BDM]

I'm totally lost here what exactly have you found ?
D/P

While this is a B1, the color is the same as we're talking about.
http://www.phonemandave.net/stbrzmain.htm

[Dennis Markham]

My friend, Mark Scola has a few of the phones in metallic colors.  I'm sure he wouldn't mind me posting a photo of them here.  The first photo is the Statuary Bronze B1 and 302.  The second photo has three B1's....I believe the colors are Gold, Old Brass and Statuary Bronze.

I believe he had to do some repair work (paint) on the F1 handset on the 302 where there was a lot of paint loss.  I know he once showed me one that he had painted.  I'm not sure if this is it or not.

[bingster]

Wow... that's a beautiful trio of phones at the bottom!

That's a nice find Bingster.  It would be nice if you could restore that base. Sounds like a big job.

Actually... it's almost done!  I've finished the main part of the base, and only have the cradle to go.  I took new pics while the piece was wet, because it's so dull when dry.  I'm not sure what to do about that.  I could try clearcoating it with something, or I could just try car wax. 

I had originally thought it was plain brown paint with green accents, but after the thorough scrubbing, it really brought out the paint, and it's metallic after all.  It has a very fine flake, though.  There's only one major flaw on the base, and that's a pit right below the "USA" mark on the neck.  I know the cradle isn't as nice, but once it's all done, I think it should be a good looking base.

[McHeath]

So this was an original finish?  It's very striking, but I would never have suspected that Ma Bell would have done this color.

[Steve K]

Wow Bingster, isn't that sort of like finding a Rembrandt under some run-of-the-mill oil painting?  I am going out to check my 102s and 202s with hopes of finding something similar!

Steve

[BDM]

I don't know.......I consider you a lucky dog on this one. It's obvious what type of phone you have. Bing, try rubbing it out with multi-step car wax. Maguires makes multi-step car wax for bringing back dull damaged paint. Careful, don't get to heavy a cut. #3 cut well rubbed might do it. Just keep going down until the final step. I would bet carefully done, you could bring it back.

[AET]

Wow, what a find!

[bingster]

I am going out to check my 102s and 202s with hopes of finding something similar!

The thought crossed my mind that there could very well be other such color sets out there that were refurbed as black sets.  Who knows how many could be out there hiding?  The most shocking thing is that, being my most ragged phone, it was always kept in my junk phone box with other phones and parts piled on top of it.

I don't know.......I consider you a lucky dog on this one. It's obvious what type of phone you have. Bing, try rubbing it out with multi-step car wax. Maguires makes multi-step car wax...

I consider myself pretty lucky, too.  This sort of thing never happens to me, and I could never have afforded something like this.  I'll give the Maguires a go.  I have some Maguires stuff out in the car, so I'll check to see what I have and what I need. 

I have the cradle and plunger cleaned off now, and I'll post new pics when I get it waxed up.  At some point I'll have to worry about a handset.  I tried black on it and it didn't work... I tried ivory on it and it didn't work... I might have to add the recreation of this color scheme on a handset to my long term project list.

[Ellen]

Wow, a camo-phone!  And then it has racing stripes on the cradle?  Pretty cool.

[Dan/Panther]

Bingster;
You take the handset when you find one, to a shop that does murals on vans etc, chopper gas tanks, They'll fix you right up...
Migh cost you a "C" note, but I think worth it.
D/P