good finds

[Jim Stettler]

Last Saturday I found a 25 day old craigslist ad that had some interesting telephones.
I was able to arrange a meeting for Wednesday to see the phones.
They were located about an hour away .
The  guy brought all the telephones in the first picture as well as 5-10 more.

I bought the 4 phones that are pictured below. They are all for my "Special Finish" collection.

The Leather wall trimline is a Western Electric.
The Polished D1 is pretty.
The copper D1 is the second copper D1 that I have owned. The first  I traded for a clear fat boy.
The smoke tint trim line is western electric. This is the 2nd smoke tint trimline housing I have seen. The first one is in my collection as a housing only.

Jim S.

As a side note: The KS show typically happens around this time. Since it isn't happening this year,  I was quite happy to find some quality pieces close by.

[HarrySmith]

Nice finds! Congrats.

[Doug Rose]

Love the copper 202.   'Tis  a beaut....Doug

[Pourme]

Some very nice pieces, Jim....congrats!

[oldguy]

Very cool phones Jim, congratulations.

[Key2871]

Agreed, you did well. I've never seen a leather trimline before.
Or a smoked set either, but here in the northeast some things don't make it this far.

[monophone_lover]

jim love it.. awesome copper 202.. GOOD JOB

Rob

[paul-f]

The Leather wall trimline is a Western Electric.

Great finds, Jim! You chose wisely.

I don't recall seeing a reference to a WE leather-covered Trimline, either. A few more photos would be nice.

Is it possible the housing came from an ITT/Citesa Gondola set, as shown in this topic? It would be interesting to compare details of the stitching to guess whether they're the same.

  http://www.classicrotaryphones.com/forum/index.php?topic=3105.msg41795#msg41795

[Jim Stettler]

Thanks for all the nice comments.
I am still amazed at this little collection.
The copper set caught my eye in the photo. once I started going thru photos the other sets caught my eye.  I didn't notice the smoke tint set until the photo popped up.

This is only the second smoke tint WE trimline that I know of.  I am not sure why they were made.

When I talked to the seller he mentioned all the Phones were WE. I had my doubts on the leather trimline. I had never seen or heard of a leather covered WE set. I was still interested in the leather set since I have a couple of leather sets. I was quite surprised to find it was a WE set.
I thought the leather set might be  either a scarce designline set or perhaps a retirement set.


The copper set is different than my other copper set.

The other set was set up as an Imperial with a white base and white base dial. I think this one may of been the same.
They were both missing transmitters and there are not conductors in the white handset cords on both sets.

The shiny D1 is the only "common" phone of the 4 and it requires luck to get a good base and work to strip it down and shine it up (right Doug),
I started liking  the sets that Doug had been stripping and polishing, I was  happy to find a nice example already stripped and polished.

My wife really likes the D1's. She had me put them in the living room vs my basement telephone room.

Back in the day I would of tried to buy all the sets, I realized before I met with the seller, that I had no need for the other sets. I did consider the imperials and black D1's, however I didn't really need them for my collection.
I was really proud of myself for being selective.
Jim S.

When I find the camera I will try to post some more photos.

[paul-f]

I had never seen or heard of a leather covered WE set.   ...
I thought the leather set might be  either a scarce design line set or perhaps a retirement set.

The only leather covered WE set that comes to mind is the Elite -- from the Design Line. The first editions were in leather, but later models were plastic-covered.

   http://www.paul-f.com/weDesignLine.html#Elite

Some background:

   http://www.classicrotaryphones.com/forum/index.php?topic=3105.msg41632#msg41632

   http://www.classicrotaryphones.com/forum/index.php?topic=3105.msg41801#msg41801

[Dan/Panther]

Great stuff Jim.

D/P

[Jim Stettler]

Great finds, Jim! You chose wisely.

I don't recall seeing a reference to a WE leather-covered Trimline, either. A few more photos would be nice.

Is it possible the housing came from an ITT/Citesa Gondola set, as shown in this topic? It would be interesting to compare details of the stitching to guess whether they're the same.

  http://www.classicrotaryphones.com/forum/index.php?topic=3105.msg41795#msg41795

The leather covered set is WE, I think the leather is for an ITT Tremdline.  The leather doesn't quite fit the handset.
It is still cool.
Jim S.

[Jim Stettler]

I found this photo from 2008. It is the copper D1 "Retirement set". It was in the ATCA archive



Jim S.

https://atcaonline.com/pictures/?id=204500117

[Jim Stettler]

I found this photo from 2008. It is the copper D1 "Retirement set". It was in the ATCA archive.
I call it a retirement set because of the dial center. I have heard of 1 more of these sets. It has the brass finger whell and no conductors in the cord.
I think the copper w/ brass FW and 0 cond cord may of been the way they were assembled. My guess is that it may of been for a special promo or display

https://atcaonline.com/pictures/?id=204500117

Jim S.

https://atcaonline.com/pictures/?id=204500117