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Red AE80 up for auction; is this anyone's on the forum?

Started by KaiserFrazer67, August 20, 2018, 04:43:17 PM

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KaiserFrazer67

Hello, everyone; sorry I haven't been on here for quite a while, but summer projects and life in general have forced me to put the vintage phone hobby on the back shelf for the time being.

Just wanted to call your collective attention to this red AE80 up on eBay:

https://www.ebay.com/itm/163209282122?ViewItem=&item=163209282122

Base code shows that it started life as Gardenia White.  If the seller is truthful about having it since new (and since he/she did post photos of the base and interior, I have little reason to doubt him/her), I'm guessing it was refurbished by the telco and was received by the seller sometime after the manufacturing date of 1968.  It does have a "General System" decal on the base, but no other info indicating refurb; although I'm aware that refurb info, if it existed, could be long gone or simply unrecorded.

I wouldn't call it "like new" since there is some visible and obvious scuffing on the shell, but it should sand and buff out okay, I would think.  I'm wondering if this is a forum member selling this.  If anyone can tell me more about this phone, or if anyone has any thoughts on it, please let me know either publicly or via P.M.  Not many decent red AE80's come up on eBay anymore (or red AE's of any stripe except Stylelines, for that matter), whether original or not, so I am considering throwing a bid out on it.  I'd prefer a '14'-stamped original, but the long cord does make it a bit unusual.

Thanks much,

Tom M.
-Tom from Oakfield, Wisconsin --  My CO CLLI & switch: OKFDWIXADS0--GTD-5 EAX

"Problems are merely opportunities in workclothes." -Henry J. Kaiser

rdelius

For some reason, GTE southeast did not seem to push red type 80s in Durham where I live.What few that have surficed were the earler sets with the potted network chrome plungers and older fingerwheel with the chrome ring.Rather rare around here

HarrySmith

Welcome back! Been almost a year, life does get in the way sometimes. While you were gone Terry, AE Collector, has made some progress with decoding AE phones. Maybe he can pick up something on this one. That does look like a VERY long handset cord! Reminds me of the one my Mom had on the kitchen phone. She had a long one put on so she could be on the phone while at the stove, the sink or the dining room table! IIRC it would even stretch around the corner into the living room!
Harry Smith
ATCA 4434
TCI

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

AE_Collector

#3
Also coded for no Ringer originally supplied but my guess is that the installed SL Ringer is from 1968, same year as the phone. So it looks as though it was a new Gardenia Whire Phone in 1968 that received a SL Ringer upon installation. At some point it was removed, refurbished into a red 80 and reinstalled seemingly for the current owner. To be fair to the owner/seller they may not be able to recall accurately enough when they received it and since refurbs typically looked like new phones they may have thought it new at that time. Cords are nice which is a bonus.  Probably not a bad deal at $35 though 5 days to go.

Terry

KaiserFrazer67

Thanks for all of your input.  I shared the code data with the seller and did receive a reply back from him when I inquired about it:

"Thank you for the very interesting background. To my knowledge, this telephone never went into general service and was given to me early on by someone at a General Telephone distribution center in Central Illinois. The phone must have been custom changed at the distribution center, possibly for a customer that wanted red and then the order was never placed. I did not think the telephone was reconditioned after being in service and just in inventory for a while, but anything is possible. Red was not a popular color in the earlier years and caught on later. I've had the phone for years. probably since the early 70s. I always assumed it was always red and never in service, but your knowledge says likely otherwise. Once again, thanks for the interesting historical background. --John"

This does shine a bit more light on it.  It would make sense for a distribution center to make an existing phone red per customer order, and then just send it to another customer if the order was cancelled.  Seems General Telephone/GTE did this quite a bit.  I have a black Starlite wall phone I got from a neighbor which was originally turquoise per the original code on the back; however, that one had a reconditioning sticker pasted over the code (which, unfortunately, did not survive my removing it to expose the original code).
-Tom from Oakfield, Wisconsin --  My CO CLLI & switch: OKFDWIXADS0--GTD-5 EAX

"Problems are merely opportunities in workclothes." -Henry J. Kaiser

Partyline4

Quote from: rdelius on August 20, 2018, 04:49:28 PM
For some reason, GTE southeast did not seem to push red type 80s in Durham where I live.What few that have surficed were the earler sets with the potted network chrome plungers and older fingerwheel with the chrome ring.Rather rare around here
]

From Durham too! Even in surrounding area antiques stores I've never seen a red 80.

Partyline4

AE 80's are usually snoozers on eBay... I think a good rain maker was the green version. I've seen a red on eBay before, and I can't remember how high it went.... If it went at all...

AE_Collector

Didn't sell at $35, relished at $35...must have been BIN this time as it sold quickly...

Terry

Partyline4

Quote from: AE_Collector on August 30, 2018, 09:13:20 PM
Didn't sell at $35, relished at $35...must have been BIN this time as it sold quickly...

Terry

Maybe a forum member?

AE's just don't bring it to the table like W.E's do when you're talking about money....I still say they sound better, though.

KaiserFrazer67

I wasn't able to get it...  it was already gone by the time I got the re-list E-mail notice from eBay.  Always when I finally get enough extra spending cash... :'(

And you're right about the AEs being a nicer looking and sounding phone.  WEs do seem to be just a bit more durable, though, when you consider not just the dial mechanism which (in my experience) almost never needs periodic lubrication or governor adjustment (unlike AE dials), but the fact that WE transmitters and receivers are darn near bulletproof.  AE receivers seem to hold up, but I've gone through several crummy AE Type 41 and 81 transmitters and I've even written threads on here lamenting the issue.  Never had any WE receivers or transmitters from either the 302s or the 500 series fail me yet.

Still; when the AE transmitters do work, they work wonderfully.  Everyone I talk with over my vintage AE's (both my 40 and my 80's) agree that I sound much clearer and louder when I'm on them as opposed to when I'm on my cordless. ;)  My WE 302, my Leich, which has the same WE receiver and transmitter as the F1 handset, and my WE 554 also do great jobs.    The only "dog" I have is my Kellogg Redbar; and while the receiver seems to be fine, the transmitter is pretty crummy (wrote threads detailing that headache, too), which is why I will be retrofitting it for a WE transmitter capsule, thanks to advice and instructions from another forum member.

And if AEs don't "bring it to the table", well, that's good news for those of us who want to buy and collect them!  ;)  The colored 40s and 50s certainly seem to, though... so do a lot of nicer black 40s, 50s and earlier ones.  ::)
-Tom from Oakfield, Wisconsin --  My CO CLLI & switch: OKFDWIXADS0--GTD-5 EAX

"Problems are merely opportunities in workclothes." -Henry J. Kaiser

Partyline4

Quote from: KaiserFrazer67 on August 31, 2018, 02:03:24 AM
I wasn't able to get it...  it was already gone by the time I got the re-list E-mail notice from eBay.  Always when I finally get enough extra spending cash... :'(

And you're right about the AEs being a nicer looking and sounding phone.  WEs do seem to be just a bit more durable, though, when you consider not just the dial mechanism which (in my experience) almost never needs periodic lubrication or governor adjustment (unlike AE dials), but the fact that WE transmitters and receivers are darn near bulletproof.  AE receivers seem to hold up, but I've gone through several crummy AE Type 41 and 81 transmitters and I've even written threads on here lamenting the issue.  Never had any WE receivers or transmitters from either the 302s or the 500 series fail me yet.

Still; when the AE transmitters do work, they work wonderfully.  Everyone I talk with over my vintage AE's (both my 40 and my 80's) agree that I sound much clearer and louder when I'm on them as opposed to when I'm on my cordless. ;)  My WE 302, my Leich, which has the same WE receiver and transmitter as the F1 handset, and my WE 554 also do great jobs.    The only "dog" I have is my Kellogg Redbar; and while the receiver seems to be fine, the transmitter is pretty crummy (wrote threads detailing that headache, too), which is why I will be retrofitting it for a WE transmitter capsule, thanks to advice and instructions from another forum member.

And if AEs don't "bring it to the table", well, that's good news for those of us who want to buy and collect them!  ;)  The colored 40s and 50s certainly seem to, though... so do a lot of nicer black 40s, 50s and earlier ones.  ::)

I agree. The 60s to 80s vintage AE phones don't do as well as the similar year WE is what I should have said.  People often ask pretty high prices for the model 80 sometimes... When they hit a auction they usually go for ugatz

Partyline4

Something I always have to remember though - they made literally millions and millions of telephones, both AE, and WE....

and millions were junked, too. But I am still amazed here in Durham when I go to older folks homes - how many of these old phones are still around!

Something to marvel.