1956 Matching Date All Original Black 500 C/D

[TelePlay]

Stopped at an antique store last week and found about a dozen phones of all makes and styles priced between $60 and $250 (all over priced for what they were) and then, way in the back, in a corner booth, sitting on an eye level shelf staring at me was this black 500. Other than the handset cord which is very stiff and cracked in several places, this phone was in great shape. The bottom looked almost new and the leather feet are undamaged. It was stamped in bright silver ink 500 C/D and dated 6-56. They wanted $15 for it and because it was under $20, wouldn't give me a discount for the bad handset cord.

On getting it home and opening it up, I realized I had something special here. A date matching all original 500 built the first few days of June, 1956. Here are the dates.

Housing 6-1-56 in yellow ink
Ringer 6-56 in vermillion ink
425B network 6-56
G1 handset (receiver end) 6/56 in vermillion ink
Transmitter cap 5-56 in vermillion ink
T1 6-4-56 in black ink
Receiver cap 6-56 in vermillion ink
U1 6-4-56 in yellow ink
Dial 7D  -3  5-56 in vermillion ink
Bezel has a black gasket in place
Handset Cord Restraint H4BH  5 || 6
Line Cord Restraint D3BB  5 || 6


These pictures are as purchased, not cleaned or dusted or wiped off one bit. Should shine up nicely. Can't wait to see it polished with a new handset cord and number card.

[.....]

Nice find, I like the black 500's.

[Mr. Bones]

Nice find, John!

     Can't hardly beat the price, either.

     I am looking forward to the after pictures.

Best regards!

[TelePlay]

Opened it up to take internal "before" pictures and found this under the reversed, hand written number card.

This is an active number in Oshkosh, Wisconsin but was not able to find BEverly at the TEN Project site. BE is 23 and 235 has been a prefix in that city for a long time so that fits. Must have flipped it when the new 4 digit number was assigned to that land line.

[unbeldi]

BEverly is in the TENP database for Oshkosh, so is BLackhawk, ALder, STanley, and PR.

[TelePlay]

Here's an interesting question, how did so much dust get into and settle on the inside base components but the dial back and the inside of the housing are clean, as is the exterior and all parts of the handset? It's just dust, a thick layer of it but given the entrance points on a closed 500, this phone must have sat in a the same spot for a long, long time leaving a clean rectangular box on top of whatever it sat for all those years. No rust, just dust.

[WEBellSystemChristian]

Whatever you do... don't sneeze!!!

Great find! I like the surprise card you found behind the exposed card!

[WesternElectricBen]

Here's an interesting question, how did so much dust get into and settle on the inside base components but the dial back and the inside of the housing are clean, as is the exterior and all parts of the handset? It's just dust, a thick layer of it but given the entrance points on a closed 500, this phone must have sat in a the same spot for a long, long time leaving a clean rectangular box on top of whatever it sat for all those years. No rust, just dust.

I've never seen something exactly like that, but I've seen bad.

With something that dirty, I think it would be a worthwhile trip out to the garage to blow the phone out with compressed air.

Ben

[WEBellSystemChristian]

Well, you know that Western Electric knew what they were doing with the dust guards on dials! But even then, I still see layers of dust inside those things!

[oldmoley2]

A really great find. Would love to have had this phone - it shares the date of my birth, particularly the case, which carries the date itself!

[TelePlay]

Just a bit more information of why this phone was a "had to have" buy.

I took the first photo below in 1971 showing the tail number of a UH-1H helicopter which for about 7 months was my sole responsibility to keep flight worthy. I logged 498 flight hours on that helicopter. The tail number is 656, as in 6-56 on this phone. The second photo below was taken by in 2013 Jorge Peña, an aircraft photographer in Columbia. It's the same helicopter still flying 45 years after it was built. The full tail number of the helicopter was 68-15656. It was built in 1968 and began flying in 1969. I say was because when it was transferred to its new owner in Columbia, they re-designated it as EJC-5412. And on top of all that, my birthday is in the first week of June. Although I was studying hard in elementary school as it was being built, it is still sort of a birthday phone to me (never going to find a 302 so this will have to do). So, it's a doubly special phone, by date, to me. That's why I had to have it. End of story.

[WEBellSystemChristian]

I was wondering when you were going to tell that story to the group! Great job summarizing it!

[Dennis Markham]

It's a great story.  Thanks for sharing it with us.  6-'56 makes perfect sense.

[oldmoley2]

Many thanks for sharing this story, which underlines just how important this phone is. Good to see that the helicopter is still in business all those years later too. They don't make 'em like they used to!