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That clear contempra set ... and a card dialer discussion

Started by Dominic_ContempraPhones, September 23, 2015, 12:57:35 AM

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Dominic_ContempraPhones

First, thanks to Dennis and Dave from PEI for letting me join.

I stumbled on this a while back.  Northern did make these, but it was a tinted transparent plastic called "smoke", not totally clear, and they were only given to employees.  Does anyone know who won this one?  It must have come from the Nashville plant.

jsowers

It has an eastern NC area code (919) on it. I'm in NC and I'd like to see the auction. Do you have the auction link and could you post it? Or the eBay item number? I hadn't seen it until now.

Welcome to the Forum!
Jonathan

rdelius

Nothhern Telecom had a large plant in RTP (Raleigh) .Carolina Telephone (United Telephone) in Eastern NC used large quanities of Contempra sets.Both 919 AC.

HarrySmith

Harry Smith
ATCA 4434
TCI

"There is no try,
there is only
do or do not"

Jim Stettler

I have never seen a clear contempra  before. That would be a nice addition to my collection.
Jim S.
You live, You learn,
You die, you forget it all.

WEBellSystemChristian

Welcome to the forum! I believe I've seen you around on Dave's Museum Facebook page, correct?

That's an interesting set. It's possible that it could be a reproduction, but because I've never seen one like this before, I doubt it.
Christian Petterson

"Whether you think you can or think you can't, you're right" -Henry Ford

TelePlay

Quote from: Dominic_ContempraPhones on September 23, 2015, 12:57:35 AM
I stumbled on this a while back.  Northern did make these, but it was a tinted transparent plastic called "smoke", not totally clear, and they were only given to employees.  Does anyone know who won this one?

Isn't Dominic  saying he saw this some time ago in an auction of some sort and is asking if anyone knows who won that auction? I might be wrong in my understanding, something he can clear up when he checks back in.

Dominic_ContempraPhones

Thanks everyone -- sorry for the late response.

The eBay auction URL was:  http://www.ebay.com/itm/291255877961 -- went for $150.

Attached is another shot.  I actually saw it on this forum here:

http://www.classicrotaryphones.com/forum/index.php?topic=12431.msg134703#msg134703

It looks totally legit.  I heard that Northern's John F. Tyson (its designer), is the only other person who had one, and that's it.

I have one new in the box that was given to me, but it's tinted clear, not fully clear like this, and it's not DTMF.  They called it "smoke", but it's their pulse emulator model (DIGIPULSE) - QSK3100AX -- but not the ones I remember.  It had a soft dial (not the hinged "chu" click dial), and it chimes at the end of the pulse sequence, or whenever it catches up to you.

I was just wondering who got this clear DTMF one.  I contacted the seller to see if they worked for Northern, but they didn't answer.  You don't see one of these very often, if at all.

Dominic

jsowers

According to Terry Biddlecombe's latest eBay handles list, which is three years old, the winner could be Dick Capon in Florida, but there's no email address. His full eBay handle is we302w, so you could try sending him a message through eBay and ask if he's the winner. Our own Dave Willingham, aka Poplar1, was, I think, the runner up.

The phone was installed in Raleigh because that's a Raleigh, NC phone number on it, and the seller was in Raleigh too.
Jonathan

Dominic_ContempraPhones

Thanks for the info jsowers!  No luck I'm afraid -- I did a search on we302w and nothing came up I'm afraid.  I also tried looking him up as a seller for close matches and nothing came up either.  He does seem to bid on a lot of phones when I look at his bidding profile though.  Poplar1 -- is he guy I sold that pink card dialer to last year? -- attached below.  Maybe I'll ask him.  Thanks anyway -- much appreciated.

Dave F

Quote from: Dominic_ContempraPhones on September 25, 2015, 05:53:34 PM
<snip>... is he guy I sold that pink card dialer to last year? ...
No, Dominic, I'm the one who bought your pink Card Dialer -- Absolutely one of the coolest phones in my collection!

Dave F.

Dominic_ContempraPhones

Hi Dave -- a few people told me they were blown away by it.  You made a lot of people envious.  Anyways, I'm glad it found a good home.  I never used it because I don't have a key system in my home.  I always wondered if someone had the idea to build a small box emulator that could mimic one -- ie. amphenol in on one side -- 5 RJ11s on the other side, and a transformer into the box for power.  That way, you can test it in a standalone mode, even with a single line.

WEBellSystemChristian

I saw that card dialer and thought; "Man, Dave F would love that thing!". I guess he loves it more than I thought...

Dave, on a side note, how many colors have you seen/do you have the Card Dialer in? From you, I've seen Gray, Green, Turquoise, and Pink.
Christian Petterson

"Whether you think you can or think you can't, you're right" -Henry Ford

Dave F

Quote from: Dominic_ContempraPhones on September 25, 2015, 07:51:33 PM
Hi Dave -- a few people told me they were blown away by it.  You made a lot of people envious.  Anyways, I'm glad it found a good home.  I never used it because I don't have a key system in my home.  I always wondered if someone had the idea to build a small box emulator that could mimic one -- ie. amphenol in on one side -- 5 RJ11s on the other side, and a transformer into the box for power.  That way, you can test it in a standalone mode, even with a single line.
Dominic,

You definitely found it a good and appreciative home!  I'm still amazed every time I look at it.  You know, there are only two pink Card Dialers known to exist: This one, and the one in the JKL museum.  I know they had several hours before the fire to remove the rarest stuff -- I sure hope that their pink Card Dialer was one of the lucky survivors.

Back in June, I took mine to the So. Cal. phone show and included it in the pink display set up by our mutual friend Steve H.  I think that display was the star of the show -- we certainly got plenty of attention.  It was a lot of fun.

I don't currently have a key system operating, but I have squirreled away all the stuff needed to build a nice old 1A1 system.  In fact, at long-last, I recently found a very rare 247A KTU (not to be confused with the common 247B later version), the original Touchtone converter for dial intercoms.  If I ever have the time to work on it, I'll spend many happy hours wiring up all those old 200-series KTUs!

DF

Quote from: WEBellSystemChristian on September 25, 2015, 10:36:11 PM
I saw that card dialer and thought; "Man, Dave F would love that thing!". I guess he loves it more than I thought...

Dave, on a side note, how many colors have you seen/do you have the Card Dialer in? From you, I've seen Gray, Green, Turquoise, and Pink.

I currently have Card Dialers in all colors except yellow and blue.  While these two colors are toughies, they are surely no match for pink or turquoise in terms of rarity.  If anybody hears of a blue or yellow for sale, please let me know.

By the way, I recently found a Card Dialer in Ivory.  This is a color far rarer than you might expect.

DF

Dominic_ContempraPhones

Blue ... like this?