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Gold Imperial on Ebay Now

Started by LarryInMichigan, December 05, 2012, 07:35:48 AM

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DavePEI

Quote from: Dennis Markham on December 13, 2012, 09:52:54 AM
The cord and phone look good Dave.  A little cleaning and polishing will make it a very nice phone to display.  I've not tried the cloth cord coil tightening.  I have a couple that need some work so I guess it's time to experiment.  You had nice results.
Yes, I was pleased at how well the cloth cord re-coiled. I had never tried recoiling a cloth cord before, and it worked great. Phone is now in the basement, chips in the paint on the handset being retouched.

Dave
The Telephone Museum of Prince Edward Island:
http://www.islandregister.com/phones/museum.html
Free Admission - Call (902) 651-2762 to arrange a visit!
C*NET 1-651-0001

TelePlay

#31
That was a good deal.

Right now, there is another one with a 302 subset on eBay at a BIN price of $395 plus shipping. It looks fantastic. I don't like to post current auctions but thought this phone should be seen so here it is:

http://www.ebay.com/itm/251203013762

LarryInMichigan

The $395 one is worth much more because it has a much newer #6 dial ;D

Larry

George Knighton

Quote from: LarryInMichigan on December 21, 2012, 07:27:25 AM
The $395 one is worth much more because it has a much newer #6 dial ;D

Larry

It's still tempting.

Must...not...buy....

Must...not...buy....
Annoying new poster.

DavePEI

Quote from: DavePEI on December 12, 2012, 07:57:06 PM
Hi Folks:

Ok, I have the suede base of the phone cleaned off, cord shortened, wound on a 15 inch round wharf spike, and boiling away in a big pot on the stove. Hopefully after I cool it again, it will have re-gained its original coiling.

No surprises found - the phone is really in exceptional shape, and should look great when I get it on display!

Dave
Update! -- Today, while going through one of the boxes of my latest find, what should I find? A nice unpainted beige handset for this phone! Its a little dirty, but otherwise in perfect shape.

The painted handset on the Imperial will be coming off, and the true beige handset will soon appear in its place!

Dave
The Telephone Museum of Prince Edward Island:
http://www.islandregister.com/phones/museum.html
Free Admission - Call (902) 651-2762 to arrange a visit!
C*NET 1-651-0001

unbeldi

#35
Quote from: DavePEI on July 17, 2014, 09:08:28 PM
Quote from: DavePEI on December 12, 2012, 07:57:06 PM
Hi Folks:

Ok, I have the suede base of the phone cleaned off, cord shortened, wound on a 15 inch round wharf spike, and boiling away in a big pot on the stove. Hopefully after I cool it again, it will have re-gained its original coiling.

No surprises found - the phone is really in exceptional shape, and should look great when I get it on display!

Dave
Update! -- Today, while going through one of the boxes of my latest find, what should I find? A nice unpainted beige handset for this phone! Its a little dirty, but otherwise in perfect shape.

The painted handset on the Imperial will be coming off, and the true beige handset will soon appear in its place!

Dave
Really beige?   They are supposed to be ivory on an Imperial.  Either a painted Bakelite F1 or a Tenite plastic F1.

DavePEI

Quote from: unbeldi on July 17, 2014, 09:31:34 PM

Really beige?   They are supposed to be ivory on an Imperial.  Either a painted Bakelite F1 or a Tenite plastic F1.
Ok, Ivory... Nitpicker! :)
The Telephone Museum of Prince Edward Island:
http://www.islandregister.com/phones/museum.html
Free Admission - Call (902) 651-2762 to arrange a visit!
C*NET 1-651-0001

LarryInMichigan

Those ivory plastic F1s are not easy to find in good condition for less than a fortune.  Nearly all I have seen have ugly brown stress cracks.

Larry

unbeldi

Quote from: DavePEI on July 17, 2014, 09:45:16 PM
Quote from: unbeldi on July 17, 2014, 09:31:34 PM

Really beige?   They are supposed to be ivory on an Imperial.  Either a painted Bakelite F1 or a Tenite plastic F1.
Ok, Ivory... Nitpicker! :)
Just trying to prevent a disastrous result. :-)  WECo's notion of 'beige' is rather unpredictable.

So what did you find?  A Tenite handset?  That would be nice indeed.



DavePEI

Quote from: unbeldi on July 17, 2014, 10:06:23 PM
Quote from: DavePEI on July 17, 2014, 09:45:16 PM
Quote from: unbeldi on July 17, 2014, 09:31:34 PM

Really beige?   They are supposed to be ivory on an Imperial.  Either a painted Bakelite F1 or a Tenite plastic F1.
Ok, Ivory... Nitpicker! :)
Just trying to prevent a disastrous result. :-)  WECo's notion of 'beige' is rather unpredictable.

So what did you find?  A Tenite handset?  That would be nice indeed.

I would say it is tenite, but I didn't give it the sniff test. I found three handsets in one box, and the first two I picked up were British, but I quickly looked at the other, and sure enough it was a WE F1. It looks like it will clean up very well.

Dave
The Telephone Museum of Prince Edward Island:
http://www.islandregister.com/phones/museum.html
Free Admission - Call (902) 651-2762 to arrange a visit!
C*NET 1-651-0001

unbeldi

Quote from: DavePEI on July 17, 2014, 10:14:14 PM
Quote from: unbeldi on July 17, 2014, 10:06:23 PM
Quote from: DavePEI on July 17, 2014, 09:45:16 PM
Quote from: unbeldi on July 17, 2014, 09:31:34 PM

Really beige?   They are supposed to be ivory on an Imperial.  Either a painted Bakelite F1 or a Tenite plastic F1.
Ok, Ivory... Nitpicker! :)
Just trying to prevent a disastrous result. :-)  WECo's notion of 'beige' is rather unpredictable.

So what did you find?  A Tenite handset?  That would be nice indeed.

I would say it is tenite, but I didn't give it the sniff test. I found three handsets in one box, and the first two I picked up were British, but I quickly looked at the other, and sure enough it was a WE F1. It looks like it will clean up very well.

Dave

The Tenite used for F1 handsets (and 302s) did not smell at all.  This was a different type of Tenite than that used in the smelly 500 housings in the 50s.  The Tenite used for 302-related apparatus was Tenite Acetate, while the 500-set used Tenite Butyrate.

This difference is the essential reason for the vastly different shrinkage of these two plastics.  The acetate is a smaller molecule and its breakdown products simply evaporate out of the material.

DavePEI

#41
Got 95% of the brown stains off the beige tenite F1 by rubbing wth 0000 steel wool- just now soaking it in oxy-clean to get the last vestiges of it off. Before coming over for the oxy-clean treatment, I tried the handset on the imperial, and it looks absolutely fantastic. Sure will be an improvement to the painted one.  Once I have it dried off, I will post a photo. Hope it doesn't go motley as blue sometimes will in oxy-clean!

I am pleased with the results - just a soft warm glow to the entire handset,

I was so pleased to find it in that batch of phones and parts!

Dave
The Telephone Museum of Prince Edward Island:
http://www.islandregister.com/phones/museum.html
Free Admission - Call (902) 651-2762 to arrange a visit!
C*NET 1-651-0001

unbeldi

#42
Quote from: DavePEI on July 21, 2014, 12:54:23 PM
Got 95% of the brown stains off the beige tenite F1 by rubbing wth 0000 steel wool- just now soaking it in oxy-clean to get the last vestiges of it off. Before coming over for the oxy-clean treatment, I tried the handset on the imperial, and it looks absolutely fantastic. Sure will be an improvement to the painted one.  Once I have it dried off, I will post a photo. Hope it doesn't go motley as blue sometimes will in oxy-clean!

I was so pleased to find it in that batch of phones and parts!

Dave
Ivory Tenite cleans up nicely with bleaching agents.  But I am afraid the steel wool dulls it quite a bit and you probably need to polish well. I found that these ivory plastic handset also look really nice after solvent polishing. Sometimes too good, so that I have used 6000-grit micro-polish cloth to tone it down.


DavePEI

#43
Here is the Imperial with the ivory tenite handset. I am so glad I checked out that bag which I found the handset in. It cleaned up nicely, I think... It is a big improvement over the painted handset.

Dave
The Telephone Museum of Prince Edward Island:
http://www.islandregister.com/phones/museum.html
Free Admission - Call (902) 651-2762 to arrange a visit!
C*NET 1-651-0001