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2212 Really WoW

Started by JimHyak, March 01, 2017, 07:54:23 PM

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mentalstampede

Well, that's how it is with almost anything people collect. Rarity is everything.
My name is Kenn, and I like telephones.

"Progress isn't made by early risers. It's made by lazy men trying to find easier ways to do something." --Robert Heinlein

Victor Laszlo

That is an extremely low price for that telephone.  I paid $1500 for a new one, ten years ago.

There were extremely low numbers of them made, which is why a person in the hobby has made repro dial mountings for them.


andre_janew

This is the first time I've seen one!  I didn't know there was a TT version of the Space Saver!

Babybearjs

how rare are these anyway, where would these have been used? where they mainly used in a CO? there must be more of them out there.....
John

Jim Stettler

I had a black one 20+ years ago for less than $100, I sold it 10+ years ago for around $300. I could of bought a green 211 from the same seller.
JMO,
Jim S.
You live, You learn,
You die, you forget it all.

Doug Rose

FYI, Ray Kotke made some TT tops for these a few years ago....Doug
Kidphone

JimHyak

Sorry for repeating myself, but I have been told by more than one installer that they never saw these in the field. By the time this was built, you could get a TT wall Trimline in a wide range of colors, and the installer did not have to mess with a subset so guess which way he would push the customer. Who knows how many were pulled off a rack or wall at a CO and dumped? Of production WE phones since the 500 series, I would think these are in the top ten for rarity, or close to it. And rarity isn't everything, I like them for their ungainliness, like a baby with an outsized head. :)

I tried a couple of times to get Ray to make me some, or at least the head, but haven't had any luck. I've seen pics of the clear one he made, that's cool, I think Red would be too.
Jim
It's not hoarding if you have cool stuff!

Victor Laszlo

We (Bell workers) were told that the original batch (maybe 500 units) were made as a special order to replace already-installed rotary phones of the same type (211 and/or 212) at a large department store in NYC. ISTR that Macy*s was the one mentioned.  It would not have required the tedious installation of subsets since the assumption was that they were already in place.  Just some internal gossip...no idea of it was true or not.  Certainly they were not offered all over the System at the time I heard this story.

unbeldi

Quote from: Victor Laszlo on May 05, 2017, 09:52:53 AM
We (Bell workers) were told that the original batch (maybe 500 units) were made as a special order to replace already-installed rotary phones of the same type (211 and/or 212) at a large department store in NYC. ISTR that Macy*s was the one mentioned.  It would not have required the tedious installation of subsets since the assumption was that they were already in place.  Just some internal gossip...no idea of it was true or not.  Certainly they were not offered all over the System at the time I heard this story.

Macy's seems to be the only one that could have qualified for an order that large, considering that they would probably need a good number of desk sets too.

Payphone installer

I know for sure that these were in the Central Office mounted on the rack or frame they were also used in airport control towers. When I was a payphone installer I fixed 211's that were mounted in bars as a extension to payphones. 212's were used a lot at answering service companies mounted row after row on the wall. Button and buzzer and 211's were also used in barber shops and beauty salons as extensions to payphones. As a side note in residence I only ever saw one 500U in black. I also only saw two home inter-phone systems. This was 82 to maybe 86.