1965 Touch-Tone Trimline

[SUnset2]

I just got this 10 button Touch-Tone Trimline phone.  I grabbed it because I didn't have any 10 button Trimlines.  I am thinking that this is a very early Touch-Tone Trimline, possibly a field trial.  The marking inside the case is very faint, I can just make out F-56439 3-65.  The flex circuit is marked F-56440.  I noticed that there is a plastic insulator slipped between layers of circuitry.  I pulled it out, and it is a piece of drafting Mylar, with a Bell Labs title block on it. 

[SUnset2]

Adding more pictures.

[countryman]

That's a neat phone and really early. Great find!
Is that a flexible PCB? Looks transparent...

[HarrySmith]

Great find. Nice early set. I do believe the F numbers are for field trials or sample units. If I am wrong I am sure someone will provide the correct information.

[Key2871]

That is the very earlyest trimline I ever saw before.
That is a great find indeed.

[HarrySmith]

Where did you find it?

[Jim Stettler]

found it
check tt  development on Paul F.'s site
http://www.paul-f.com/weprotot.html#Trimline
same color, f number and date
tt field trial Chicago 1965 200 sets.

[SUnset2]

> Where did you find it?
Ebay, $32.95 BIN, and $8.25 shipping + tax.
The seller was in Keso, WA, and the number card has a San Francisco area code, so it appears to have travelled a ways from Chicago. 
It looks just like Paul-F's, though the stamps are more faded on mine.

The flex circuit was used on all Trimlines, it was probably one of the first commercial applications.

[paul-f]

Ebay, $32.95 BIN, and $8.25 shipping + tax.

Amazing find! Congratulations.

You'll have my vote for Find of the Month.

More details on mine and some additional background are here:
http://www.classicrotaryphones.com/forum/index.php?topic=15059.0

http://www.paul-f.com/weprotot.html#F56439

[Stormcrash]

Very awesome find! Looks like over time someone switched the number card and plastic name cover around. The Trimline originally had the number card in the handset and the "Bell System" screw cover on the base. From my own looking around it appears that the factory changed to the later arrangement sometime in 1968. Is the color a standard beige? I'm assuming it is and that the base is just a stock AD1 they paired with the field trial handset

[SunriseEarth]

Amazing find! Congratulations.  You'll have my vote for Find of the Month.

I second that!  Definitely a FOTM contender.

[.....]

Awesome find, great score for sure.

[Key2871]

As for the name plate and number card, it always made sense to me to have them the way they are now on the set, in tbe old days when you needed to gife the number you were calling from you'd look to the base for the number, not the handset.