Rose-Beige 500D - real or fakery

[Slal]

Hi Everyone,

Just when figured I was done with phones for a while, along comes this one.

Seller wanted to trade for dark gray 554.  No luck there, so we finally agreed on 400 bucks.

So...

Fair price or still paying too much for these things?  How much would one go for at a phone show for example?

Most important though.  Do they make reproduction housings, dial faces, etc?

Does anything look amiss? 

If so, can always send it back & seller will refund Pay-pal.

All components are marked September '56 with the exception of transmitter which is from October.

No stains, cracks, or marks on soft plastic.  Only fly in ointment (that I can see) is that HS cord looks like it might faded into a grayish color in places.   

thx

--Bruce

PS:  Discovered 'rose-beige' difficult to photograph.  (On my monitor at least) phone appears to be darker than actually is.  Handset in photo two might be more accurate color.

[poplar1]

Looks good from here. One sold for $620 on July 1. A cracked one sold for $250 June 27:
http://www.classicrotaryphones.com/forum/index.php?topic=12215.msg129033#msg129033

[HarrySmith]

Looks good to me. I sold one with a crack a while back for $350.00.
The cord on mine looked the same. I think they were originally Grey cords that were dyed. I never pursued this, just my opinion.

[Kenton K]

Does it have a cord?

[Slal]

Thanks for replies.

Took some more photos just to make sure. ; )

Quite a relief about it being legit since sort of caught me by surprise.  While this color on my wish list, hadn't expected to get one so soon.

Believe all the dates match except transmitter.

Since seems to be OK, next step will finding line cord and plug for it.  (Gray one attached for testing)

1.) Would've had matching color cord by 1956 or still dove gray?

2.) Same question for plug.  Assume it would've had 283 type plug, but what color?

thx

--Bruce

[HarrySmith]

I got a matching line cord from Steve Hilsz. See our vendor reviews on him.

[jsowers]

Spring, 1956 seems to be the time when rose beige cords started matching, from my observations and an ad that Western Electric made about new color for spring. The coil cord on this phone is rose beige and the mounting cord should be the same color, rose beige.

The dyes in those early color cords weren't stable and often we find them faded lighter. Yellow, pink, light beige and rose beige seemed to fade the worst. Your cord still looks OK in the pictures.

So he wanted to trade for a dark gray 554? Boy was that wishful thinking. A dark gray 554 is worth likely two to three times what this phone is worth.

Your phone is definitely the real thing and a nice example. Auction prices have been all over the place these days. A dark gray 500 went for $360.57 plus shipping yesterday and it had all its cords too. I would consider dark gray rarer than rose beige, or at least I've seen and bought more of the beige phones over the years.

The plug, if you want to attach one, would be a 283B and I think they came in brown or ivory and either one would be OK. You may be able to find a rose beige 283B, but they're pretty rare. You really don't have to put a plug on the cord. Most phones came without plugs.

[Kenton K]

by Sep. 1956, the cords would be matching. Spring of 1956 is when they started matching as best as I know

-Ken

[paul-f]

2.) Same question for plug.  Assume it would've had 283 type plug, but what color?

Could have been a plug in whatever color was on the truck, or more likely hardwired to a 42A connecting block.

Check out C33.545 I8 Aug54 Connecting Blocks in the TCI Library.

[JorgeAmely]

It looks like the real thing to me.

[Dan/Panther]

Good find.
Looks like the real McCoy.
D/P

[Dan/Panther]

When it comes to the Ivory, Tan/Beige, Rose Beige, it can get confusing, and it is easy to make a mistake.
It almost looks like Milk Chocolate.

D/P

[Sargeguy]

I have a Rose Beige plug and jack combination somewhere, I can dig it out if you are interested

[Slal]

I have a Rose Beige plug and jack combination somewhere, I can dig it out if you are interested

Be most welcome.

Called Mr. Hilsz but no luck.

From parts assortment I do have, here's how spent morning.

Beige 4 conductor line cord used for phone / plug.  Imported line cord into beige jack. 

---
1.) What color is 283 style plug here? 

2.) Dan mentioned phone looks like 'chocolate brown' on his monitor.  Room gets sunlight in afternoons.  UV an issue & will end up with discolored "milk chocolate" phone if left here? 

3.) Just how "rare" are some of these colors? 

Seller claims to be retired Pacific Bell tech and has "spares" of different desktop models in diff. colors.  Wants dk. gray wall phone.  Told him think I read here that one went for over $900 on the eBay a while back.  He thought that was more than it's worth.  As a rookie I have no idea of course-- only that it's out of my price range. ; )   

Does anyone know percentages from 1953-1957?  e.g.  60% were black, 10% red, 10% blue, 10% rose-beige, 10% "other colors", etc.

What I find odd is that three so-called 'rare' Med blue phones listed on eBay in past month. 

thx

--Bruce

[TelePlay]

Does anyone know percentages from 1953-1957?  e.g.  60% were black, 10% red, 10% blue, 10% rose-beige, 10% "other colors", etc.

Remembered this topic from last December. This may help but it seems to be a 1960 ad so some of the colors from the early 50s were no longer in production. Quite a bit of discussion on color in the entire topic and what the %s might mean.

http://www.classicrotaryphones.com/forum/index.php?topic=10811.msg115428#msg115428