"Rare" Mahogany Western Electric Model 500

[Dan/Panther]

How in the heck did I miss that.
I'd give him twice what he paid right now.
D/P

[Dan]

Dan/Panther, I was in the bidding until the very end, then I chickened out. What's a good price on a Mahogany Brown?

[winkydink]

Did any of you guys get this Mahogany Brown one?

http://cgi.ebay.com/1958-BROWN-BELL-SYSTEM-WESTERN-ELECTRIC-DESK-TELEPHONE_W0QQitemZ280298854076QQcmdZViewItemQQptZCorded_Phones?hash=item280298854076&_trksid=p3286.c0.m14&_trkparms=66%3A2%7C65%3A3%7C39%3A1%7C240%3A1318

I liked the price until the bidding frenzy @ the end. I wonder if it's genuine since it's a 1958 and all the sites say it was discontinued in 1957. It looks like it has the suede felt feet but do you think it is genuine?

I can't say whether it's genuine, but I did buy a 685A subset off this seller last month.  Very nice shape and had no issues with the seller.

[Dennis Markham]

If the buyer/prospective buyer were able to ask questions about the plastic, it is possible that it is a Mahogany phone, as far as the plastic is concerned.  As you said, Mahogany was not manufactured in 1958.  The hard center finger wheel is a replacement as these would have all had the soft center finger wheel with the celluloid disc to cover the dial card.  That dial card is also not from that time period.  The opening for the finger stop does appear to be a wide opening indicating a 7D or earlier dial.  ITT made these brown phones years later that have no particular collector value.  If the date is stamped inside and is prior to 1958, and also the dates of the handset and caps it would have been a good pick-up at $90.  One could always put the earlier plastic on an older base and put the proper finger wheel on the phone.   The handset cord does look like it has a taper end that sticks out from the handset.  If it is tapered and not the squared off sleeve it is not an original Mahogany cord.  Also, when I look at the enlarged view of the foot pads they appear to be the larger rubber feet and not suede which would be consistent with 1958.  Also the ringer bells do have the '58 date.  So the base is 1958.  Is the plastic pre-1958?  Only the buyer will know for sure.

I don't know when in 1957 the last Mahogany came down the assembly line.  If they were producing them in late December of 1957 and the new year rolled along and they still had Mahogany stock on hand maybe they produced some of them into early '58 but I have no idea about this.  Everything I've seen about the date is the model was discontinued in 1958.

[Dan]

Thanks for the info. I had a few doubts about continuing on the bidding war.

[Dennis Markham]

Since I made this post I had a conversation with a long-time phone collector friend.  He said that it was possible that these sets continued to roll off the line until product was exhausted.  He said he has heard of Mediterranean Blue sets dated as late as 1959 when the production was discontinued in 1957.  Usually the bases would be the later dates with the plastic having been manufactured with the earlier date.

This brown phone would certainly have been worth asking some questions.  A friend of mine bought a Mahogany phone in a similar situation.  The finger wheel had been updated.  If you're interested in seeing his restoration of that phone take a look at this web album:

http://tinyurl.com/9jhlkq

Dennis

[JimH]

Hmmm...this looks kind of cobbled together.  The handset cord looks too thin to be original, and the fingerwheel is wrong.  I wouldn't be surprised if the plastics were S-C or ITT.  Plus I'm fairly certain that this color was done by 1958.